Man who eloped with minor 3 years ago arrested

A youth who had allegedly eloped with a 16-year-old girl three years ago and is now the father of a two-year-old boy has been arrested by the CBI on charges of kidnapping.

A youth who had allegedly eloped with a 16-year-old girl three years ago and is now the father of a two-year-old boy has been arrested by the CBI on charges of kidnapping. He was arrested from Rajpura in Punjab where he had settled with the girl, now 19. While the 24-year-old man has been taken on transit remand to Bhopal, the girl has been sent along with the toddler to Nari Niketan.

It is alleged that the man had kidnapped the girl on February 26, 2017 from Bhind in Madhya Pradesh on a motorcycle, the CBI said. The case had come to the CBI on the directives of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on December 6, 2019 on a plea of the girl's father alleging that the youth had pointed a country-made gun at him when he tried to stop him from escaping with his daughter. The father of the girl had complained that the accused was helped by another person, both residents of Dhuta village of Jalaun district in Uttar Pradesh, and when he chased the motorcycle, he was threatened. The local police had arrested a friend of the accused, whose bike was allegedly used in the incident, CBI Spokesperson RK Gaur said.

The agency took over the investigation on January 1 after Madhya Pradesh police failed to trace the accused and the girl. After thorough investigation including search of accounts in several banks, the accused was traced to Rajpura, Gaur said.

The CBI investigators called the accused to bank for some official work where he was taken into custody. Sources said prima facie it looks like a case of elopement.