Teen held for kidnapping minor from UP

A 19-year-old girl was arrested by the Kurla railway police on Tuesday for allegedly abducting a minor girl from a village in Uttar Pradesh by luring her with prospects of a job in the city.

A 19-year-old girl was arrested by the Kurla railway police on Tuesday for allegedly abducting a minor girl from a village in Uttar Pradesh by luring her with prospects of a job in the city.

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The victim’s relatives claim the accused intended to sell the girl.

The accused, Momina Salim Sheikh Mansuri, is a native of Siddharth Nagar in UP, and the 13-year-old victim, Sayeda Khan (name changed), belongs to the same neighbourhood.

The accused and the victim boarded Khushi Nagar train on Sunday without informing the girl’s parents, said the police.

The victim’s parents lodged a missing complaint at a local police station. A witness later told the victim’s family that they had last seen the girl with Mansuri. “After questioning Mansuri’s relatives, Khan’s family learnt she was headed to Mumbai,” said Head Constable, A. Gawde.

Khan’s family then spoke to their relatives in Mumbai and informed them about the incident. The relatives alerted the Kurla railway police who laid a trap. “The accused was arrested when she stepped out of Kurla terminus,” said Senior Police Inspector D. Gore.

Initial investigations revealed that Mansuri was also forced to work in a bar in Vapi, about two years ago, by a conman who had trapped her in a similar manner. Mansuri told the police that a man had promised her Rs 5,000 for the girl.

The police have lodged a hunt for Mansuri’s aide.