Man offered Rs 50K to get a wife, touts abducted mentally ill woman from Delhi

The woman was rescued from Aligarh six months after being abducted from outside her home in Delhi. The police have arrested the main kidnapper and a middleman but the woman’s ‘husband’ is absconding.

Kidnapped from west Delhi’s Tilak Nagar around six months ago, a 25-year-old differently-abled woman was rescued from Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh district on Tuesday after she managed to access a mobile phone.

Phoolwati was paid Rs 30,000 for kidnapping the victim. (Picture: Sourced)

The woman was forcibly married to a farmer in Aligarh, but the police have added IPC section 366 (kidnapping, woman to compel her into marriage) to annul the forced marriage. Police have arrested the main kidnapper and a middleman, but the woman’s “husband” is on the run.

The woman had been receiving treatment for mental health at Institute of Human Behaviour and Sciences in Dilshad Garden. She was outside her home on March 30 when a woman approached her and talked her into accompanying her.

When police were informed about the woman’s disappearance, they had no clue about the kidnapper or the motive. Police shared her photos with their counterparts in other states. However, the woman could not be traced.

Sanju had outsourced the job to a 55-year-old woman, Phoolwati, who was paid Rs 30,000 for kidnapping the woman. The mental health issues of the victim made it easy for Phoolwati to lure her away.

“Sukhbir had gone on to forcibly marry the woman and keep her in captivity all these months. She never had access to a mobile phone,” said a senior investigator.

But on Tuesday, the woman found herself lucky when her husband and other relatives left home for some work. “One of the relatives had forgotten his mobile phone at home. The woman picked the phone and called her father whose phone number she remembered,” said the officer.

The woman, however, only knew that she was being held up in Aligarh. She did not even know the name of the village she was kept in. Before her father could ask her for more clues, the phone got disconnected and she couldn’t get through to him again.

Her father immediately informed the local police after which the number from which the woman called was kept on surveillance. That allowed the police to learn that the woman was somewhere in Atrauli tehsil in Aligarh.

A team was sent there and a local investigation finally led the police to Khediya village. “Since we did not know the exact house in which the woman was being confined, we sought help from the village pradhan. With his help, we were able to trace and rescue the woman. The accused who had forcibly married the woman managed to flee before the raid,” said the DCP.

The woman was medically examined before being handed over to her parents. The police have arrested the two men who had allegedly kidnapped her.