Two men kidnap 12-yr-old, demand ransom; arrested

Mumbai: Two men have been arrested by the Pimpri-Chinchwad police for allegedly kidnapping a 12-year-old schoolgirl for ransom on Thursday evening. The industrial town was jolted after the kidnapping of the girl in a car outside her society. The police has traced the mobile number from which the accused made calls for ransom.

The arrested accused have been identified as Nitin Satyawan Garajmal (25) and Jitendra Banjara. While Nitin works in a cinema hall, Jitendra works as a delivery boy.

According to the police, Mahi Jain (12), who lives in Queen’s town area of Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune, alighted from her school bus and went to buy a pen from a nearby shop. A car with tinted glasses was already parked nearby and the accused forcibly made Mahi sit in the car when she was returning from the shop only to speed off seconds later.

When the girl shouted for help, the shopkeeper came out of the shop and tried to chase the van but the latter disappeared. The shopkeeper rushed to the building and informed Mahi’s society members, who in turn informed her family which contacted the police.

After registering the complaint, the police started a search operation. The police perused CCTV footage etc. but could not trace the girl. The kidnappers called Mahi’s family around 8 pm and demanded `50 lakh as ransom. The girl’s parents managed to bring down the amount to `15 lakh.

They informed the police about the same following which, all police stations and crime branch units were roped in to rescue the girl. The police traced the mobile number and location. The police found the same car parked outside a building near Nere area of Hinjevadi. Finally, the police managed to rescue Mahi at around 1am in the intervening night of Thursday and Friday i.e. within nine hours of receiving the complaint.