One-year-old girl rescued days after being kidnapped from Mumbai footpath; two women held

The Mumbai Police have rescued a one-year-old girl, who was kidnapped from a footpath from Santacruz area of the city four days ago, and arrested two women in connection with the offence, officials said on Thursday.

The accused women were allegedly trying to sell the toddler in Telangana, they said, adding that the girl was rescued from Solapur railway station in southern Maharashtra on Wednesday.

According to police, although the child's mother used to tie herself to her daughter with a string while sleeping on footpath, the accused had untied the string and took away the girl.

''The incident took place late night on October 30, when the woman, 21, was sleeping with her one-year-old daughter on a footpath of Juhu Tara Road near SNDT College,'' Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar told reporters. The child's mother later realised that the child was missing, following which she along with others started looking for her, he said.

''The woman then went to the local police station and lodged a complaint that her daughter had been abducted,'' the top police official said.

A first information report (FIR) under section 363 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered at Santacruz police station against unidentified persons and a probe was launched, he said.

Unit-9 of the crime branch also started a parallel investigation and two teams were formed, Phansalkar said.

''In view of the recent cases of abduction of children from footpaths in the city, the complainant woman used to tie herself to her daughter with a string before going to sleep. But the accused woman abducted the girl by releasing the attached string,'' another police official said.

Following the complaint, the CCTV footage from the area was examined, in which the police found a woman lifting and carrying the girl from the spot, he said.

''The police department then circulated the woman suspect's photos in the area, after which some police informers identified her and provided information about her. Police received information that the woman along with her female aide had gone to Telangana with the abducted child,'' the official said.

Based on the technical analysis of the main accused woman's mobile number, police found that she was returning to Solapur, he said.

Accordingly, teams were dispatched to Hyderabad and Solapur for investigation, he said, adding that assistance of local Railway Protection Force officials was sought.

''On Wednesday, when both the accused women came to Solapur station, the RPF team and Mumbai crime branch team nabbed them and rescued the girl. During their interrogation, it came to light that both the women had gone to Telangana to sell the kidnapped child, but returned as the deal was cancelled,'' the official said.

Both the women are residents of Nehrunagar slum in Mumbai, he said.

Police are trying to find out the person to whom those women were going to sell the kidnapped child, he said.

This is the second case of child kidnapping reported in the city in two weeks. While probing the previous case, the police had rescued two girls, the official said.

The Mumbai Police carried out 'Operation Reunite' between August 15 and September 30 this year, during which they rescued a total of 487 children from various places, he said.

Among the rescued 68 male children and 135 girls were missing and abducted on police record, whereas 154 boys and 122 girls were not on the police records, he said.