Couple held for kidnapping 2­-year-­old from CST

MUMBAI: A team of the Government Railway Police’s (GRP) crime branch arrested a couple in connection with the abduction of a two-year-old girl from Chhatrapati Shivaji

MUMBAI: A team of the Government Railway Police’s (GRP) crime branch arrested a couple in connection with the abduction of a two-year-old girl from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) station on Saturday night.

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The accused, Vijay Hari Baswant, 25, and his wife Supriya, 21, are labourers. They said they kidnapped the baby after witnessing an act of domestic violence between the mother and child, said officials.

The couple were arrested at Wadkhar Naka on the outskirts of Panvel on Tuesday night. “Five teams of the railway crime branch were formed to crack the case,” said Niket Kaushik, GRP commissioner.

The accused spotted the child, who was with her mother Vaishnavi Dhawase. The two were waiting for a train to Nagpur, which would arrive the next morning. They had left their home in a slum in Four Bungalows as Vaishali wanted help her daughter escape from her alcoholic father who tortured them.

“When we questioned the accused, they said the daughter looked beautiful and they wanted to take her away and give her a better life. This seems to be a lie. The couple was at CST to travel to Nagpur by Geetanjali Express,” Dhanwate told HT.

The GRP traced their location with the help of a tip-off based on CCTV camera footage. The officials have got custody of the couple and plan to interrogate them. They are investigating the couple’s background to see if they have other cases against them.

The child was reported missing on Sunday after her mother failed to find her around 4.20am. Following the kidnapping, the accused took a taxi to the Masjid Bunder railway station, from where they boarded a train.