Navi Mumbai Police led by Commissioner KL Prasad deployed a 100 strong force of its officers and personnel to rescue a 6-month-old baby boy within 12 hours of him being snatched from his mother's arms. The police arrested five persons including a woman and the main conspirator, a father of two daughters, who had hatched an elaborate plan prima facie for want of a son.
Sunita Katkar (24) a resident of Sankalp society in sector 2 of Airoli informed Rabale MIDC police on Sunday afternoon that her son Manthan had been snatched by two motorcycle-borne men while she was travelling in an auto-rickshaw.
The incident occurred at around 11.40 am on Thane-Belapur road near SK Steel opposite a timber mart in Digha when Katkar was heading to Thane to purchase clothes for her child for Gudi Padwa. The woman was residing at her maternal home while her husband works in Ambernath in a pharmaceutical company where they are planning to shift soon.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police Suresh Mengde, "The lack of footage from the non-functional cameras in the area was a big hurdle in our investigation. However, from one of the cameras we saw that the autorickshaw was being trailed by a bike with two people."
Mengde added, "We learnt from the family that Katkar's mother had told an acquaintance Abhay Sarang (47) a real estate agent from Dombivli about her daughter's planned visit to Thane. Nobody else knew about it. Sarang was known to the lady through a common friend and he had promised to help her financially to repay a loan."
The police picked up Sarang on suspicion and interrogated him intensively. Soon he confessed to the kidnapping and revealed the entire plan. He had hired the two bikers Chandrakant Pujari (25) and Saiba Tanga (19) both residents of Airioli to kidnap the child for a payment of Rs 25,000 of which Rs 7,000 had been given as advance. The duo had got Arunkumar Maurya (22) an autorickshaw driver from Airoli to help them in the plan. Sarang also got a friend of his Lata Baista (35) a resident of Kalyan participate in the kidnapping.
Giving details of the plan, Mengde said, "Maurya stationed his autorickshaw on the highway to time with Katkar's arrival. Lata was already in the autorickshaw along with one another woman who the accused claim was a regular passenger. Lata boarded the auto to Thane and was followed by Pujari and Tanga on their bike."
He added, "When they reached the timber mart area, Maurya dropped his slipper on the road and then stopped the vehicle apparently to fetch his footwear. The bikers came over and snatched the baby from Katkar who was sitting near the exit and fled leaving the screaming mother behind."
The accused claim that they dropped the unidentified lady passenger at some place and then Lata at Kalwa Naka where the bikers met her and handed over the baby. She then took the baby to her house and later gave it to a friend of her some distance away at Vitthalwadi as she said it was getting very hot in her house.
Said Mengde, "Our teams went over to Kalyan and then Vithalwadi and got the child at around 11 pm. We got Sarang to call up the bikers and ask them to take their remaining money. When they turned up they were arrested. Soon the auto driver too was nabbed by 2 am."
Sarang has told the police that Lata was to keep the child for a few days. He would then take his wife to a temple where Lata would abandon the child in a remote area. Sarang would then convince his wife to take the child home.
Stated Mengde, "We are glad that we have brought the smile back on the mother's face who had to be hospitalized following the incident. It was a great team effort with police officers of various police stations and branches coordinating to get the child."
He concluded, "The fact that Sunday was Amavasya night had us very worried because it could have been a tantra mantra case. Prima facie it seems to be a case of blind lust for a son."
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