Ragpicker kidnaps friend’s daughter over a petty dispute with her mother

Police have arrested a man accused of kidnapping a five-year-old girl in Mumbai. Ajay Pawar allegedly took the girl after an argument with her mother, but she was unharmed.

Within 48 hours of a five-year-old girl from Vile Parle’s Nehru Nagar was kidnapped by a friend of her father on Wednesday, police arrested the accused and united the child with her family.

Ragpicker kidnaps friend’s daughter over a petty dispute with her mother

According to police, the accused, who was identified as Ajay Pawar, had been living with the family of the complainant Marisagai Shirle in Sri Lanka Chawl for the last one year. Pawar was a friend of her husband Santosh, and both used to work as ragpickers and manual scavengers in Dharavi. On Wednesday, after Santosh left for work, Pawar stayed back claiming he was feeling unwell, police officers said.

“At home, he had an argument with Marisagai over a petty issue. Around 11 am, when her five-year-old daughter Gayatri started crying for a lollipop, he volunteered to take her out and get her the candy,” an officer from Juhu police station said. When Santosh returned home for lunch, Pawar was still away with Gayatri, he added.

One team accompanied Santosh to the places where he and Pawar worked while another team along with Merisagai went to the house of Pawar’s relative. One team each checked the CCTV footage and traced the location of his phone. One team was in touch with the railway police and another team independently searched for the accused at places where he could be hiding.

“None of the people we spoke to had any knowledge of his whereabouts. His phone was also switched off. Finally, a team spotted Pawar at Jogeshwari railway station on Friday afternoon,” the police officer said.

Bandra Government Railway Police was alerted, and the accused was nabbed and handed over to the Juhu police. During interrogation, Pawar allegedly told the police that he was upset about the way the girl’s mother had spoken to him. “It was with the intention of teaching her a lesson that Pawar took Gayatri away. We also had medical tests of the child done. She was not harmed,” the officer added.

Pawar, the police said, assimilated with the destitute people sitting outside the railway station and stayed put for two days. It was when he had come inside the station premises to fetch water that a police team spotted him, officers said.