E-Paper
Cops nab 3 for kidnapping infant
On Monday, Bhiwandi police rescued the six-month-old baby boy and arrested all three accused. The woman who set the ball rolling is 34-year-old Manjudevi Mahesh Sao, a labourer.
Bhiwandi: The lure of a ₹2 lakh purse, from a woman in Jharkhand desirous of a child for 15 years, provoked Afroze Abubakar Shaikh, 26, a cloth vendor, and Shambhu Sonaram Sao, 50, a driver known to the woman, to hatch a plan and kidnap an infant from Bhiwandi. Incidentally, the child belonged to Shaikh’s family friend.
On Monday, Bhiwandi police rescued the six-month-old baby boy and arrested all three accused. The woman who set the ball rolling is 34-year-old Manjudevi Mahesh Sao, a labourer.
According to the police, on April 14, Shahana Ansari, the infant Arbaz’s mother, lodged a complaint of suspected kidnapping against an unknown person after her son went missing from her friend Fatima’s house.
On that day, Ansari left Arbaz in the care of her friend Fatima before stepping out for customary Eid shopping. A few hours later, she found the child missing, while her friend was in siesta. Ansari informed her husband and a relative about the incident and together they started searching for the boy but he remained untraceable. She then approached the local police station and lodged a case under section 363 (punishment for kidnapping) against an unknown person.
DCP Navnath Dhavle, from Bhiwandi police station, said, “We formed a two-member police team, immediately after lodging a kidnapping case.”
Shankar Indalkar, Senior Police Inspector, at Shantinagar police station, said, “Based on the footage from CCTV, installed in the neighbourhood, we spotted a man rushing away with the baby boy. Further probe revealed that the accused Shaikh is Fatima’s husband. We later arrested him from Bhiwandi, following which he revealed the role of Shambhu Sao.”
Meanwhile, aware that police would track him down eventually, Sao fled Bhiwandi and travelled to Kalyan railway station to board a train to Jharkhand. “We reached Kalyan station and nabbed him before he could take the train,” said Indalkar.
Sao’s interrogation revealed that Manjudevi and he lived in neighbouring villages. She was ready to pay a big sum for a child. On learning this, Shambhu shared the information with his friend Shaikh, and subsequently, they booth started looking for a child.
Shaikh kidnapped the boy when his wife Fatima was asleep and handed him over to Sao, who kept the infant with him for two days, in which time Manjudevi arrived from her village -- Jitkudi, in Girdih district, Jharkhand -- to Bhiwandi. She flew back with the child the same day.
Shailendra Mhatre API, Shantinagar Police Station said, “We went to Jharkhand and rescued the child from Manjudevi’s possession on April 29. He was the handed over to its parents. Manjudevi’ husband was unaware of this episode.”
