9-year-old cuts through gunny sack to escape kidnapping

It was the bogeyman story, but with a twist. Kidnapped and carried away in sack, 9-year-old Puja Kumari managed to cut her way out with a blade used for sharpening pencils, and escape.

It was the bogeyman story, but with a twist. Kidnapped and carried away in sack, 9-year-old Puja Kumari managed to cut her way out with a blade used for sharpening pencils, and escape.

For little Puja, Tuesday had dawned as usual in sleepy Giridih.

But on her way to school - Bengali Girls Middle School at the town’s Makatpur chowk - two men pounced on her, gagged her and shoved her into a gunny sack, schoolbag and all. Tying the mouth of the sack tightly, they slung it on their shoulder and carried her away.

Sometime later, by the sounds outside, she could understand that she was in a railway station. One of the men put down the sack and moved away, the other kept guard. But even so, the brave girl decided to grab the chance. Taking out the blade from her pencil box, she cut through the sack and shouted for help.

A railway police constable heard her cries and rescued her. “I don’t know who they were and what they wanted from me,” Puja later said.

The cops are equally in the dark. “Nothing can be said for certain before the inquiry is over. A case has been lodged and we have started an extensive probe,” said AK Singh, sub-divisional police officer, Giridih.