Bhiwandi police rescue 12-yr-old kidnapped girl before being trafficked

12-year-old girl kidnapped in Bhiwandi, India, rescued by police from a village 12km away; one kidnapper arrested, other still at large. Girl was found restrained in a room and was going to be sold. Police have launched a search for the mastermind behind the kidnapping.

Bhiwandi

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A 12-year-old girl, kidnapped by two including a woman, on Friday evening was rescued by the Shantinagar police on Sunday from Mahapoli village, 12 kilometers from Bhiwandi, hours before she was going to be sold to someone.

The minor girl was rescued from the house of Akhilabi Khan in Irfan Ghode chawl in Mahapoli village where the girl was found restrained in a room. While Akhilabi has been arrested, the c-accused and her husband Faruque Khan, a driver by profession is still at large.

The girl resides with her family in Shantinagar area in Bhiwandi. On Friday, she went to the public toilet, and did not return from hours. Her mother Shaziya Khatoon and her family searched for her till late night, but she was not traced. On Saturday, Khatoon lodge a missing person complaint at Shantinagar police station. Later, she received a call from an unknown number where an unidentified caller said that her daughter was wrongfully restrained in a room near the jungle and the phone was disconnected. Khatoon alerted the police, who converted the case into a kidnapping complaint under IPC 363.

Shankar Indulkar, Senior Police Inspector, Shantinagar Police Station said, “We took the mobile number from which the call was received and began tracking it. It was switched off. We formed a team to work on technical intelligence and tracing the tower location of the last call . Another team scanned the CCTV footage and alerted the informers network.”

On Sunday, the police succeeded in tracing the tower location to Mahapoli village. “On Sunday, we traced the kidnapper in Mahapoli village in Bhiwandi. We found the girl in a room and recovered a written stamp paper agreement to sell the girl. We learned that the couple were about to sell the girl to someone and we have arrested the woman,” he said.

Asked how the accused had zoomed on this girl, Indulkar said, “Further investigations are on. We have launched a search for Faruque who is still absconding.” The police investigations revealed that Faruque was the mastermind behind the kidnapping.

A case was registered under sections 363 (Punishment for kidnapping), 370 (Trafficking of person), 341 (Punishment for wrongful restraint), and 34 (Common Intention) of the Indian Penal Code. Police said the Akilabi was produced in Court and remanded into police custody for two days.

DCP Navnath Dhavle, Bhiwandi Zone 2 of Thane police, said, “We congratulate Shantinagar police for good investigation and saving the girl just in time. We awarded the police personnel who traced the girl using technical intelligence. “