'Snatched from mother, planned to sell': 25-day-old baby kidnapped in Thane, rescued within 4 hours

The infant’s family approached the Ambernath police and reported the incident.

The Ambernath police arrested five people, including the alleged kidnapper of a 25-day-old infant, within four hours of the crime on Monday and rescued the baby safely. Investigators suspect that the accused planned to sell him to a childless couple in Gujarat.

The police used CCTV footage to trace Soni Ganesh. During questioning, she told the police that she had handed over the infant to Rukhsar Farookh Sheikh, a Dharavi resident. (Representative Image/PTI)

According to the police, the infant’s mother, Santosh Waghe, was standing near a Ganesh temple in Ambernath West on Monday when a woman identified as Parvati Nagraj, who is deaf and unable to speak, allegedly snatched the boy from her and fled.

The infant’s family approached the Ambernath police and reported the incident. They told the police that they suspected that the woman would hand over the infant to another accused, Soni Ganesh, and her family.

The police used CCTV footage to trace Soni Ganesh. During questioning, she told the police that she had handed over the infant to Rukhsar Farookh Sheikh, a Dharavi resident. The police traced Sheikh to a local train travelling from Ambernath to Mumbai and arrested her.

Shabbir Sheikh, senior police inspector at Ambernath police station, said five accused had been booked. “As per our investigation Sheikh had a plan of selling the infant to a couple in Gujarat.” The police are investigating whether the arrested accused have links to a larger child trafficking racket.