Six women among 7 held for kidnapping 3-month-old girl

Mumbai: The Kandivali police has detained six women and a man for allegedly kidnapping a three-month-old girl on Monday. According to the police, one of the arrested accused — Aarti Patel — had abducted the baby and handed her over to an acquaintance in Mankhurd, Sarfraj Shaikh, who in turn sold her to another man for Rs 10,000. Patel, who is a housewife, abducted the baby after getting into a fight with her mother a few days ago.   

According to police sources, the girl was sold for Rs 10,000 but was rescued before the buyer, who is unidentified, could reach Mankhurd. According to officials, the girl’s mother and Patel had a verbal argument a few days ago, and the latter planned the kidnapping to take revenge. Apart from Patel and Shaikh, the five other arrested accused — Nadira Shaikh, Ayesha Shaikh, Rani Naidu, Sarika Chohan and Savita Salunkhe — had played roles in the baby’s abduction and keeping her in illegal confinement. All the arrested accused were produced in a local court on Tuesday where they were remanded in judicial custody.

According to the police officers on Monday one Manoj Bhati (39) lodged a police complaint that when he woke up in the morning he discovered that his tenth daughter was missing. Following this, officers of Kandivali police station registered a case and started the investigation.

During the investigation officers, recovered CCTV footage from a nearby shop where three women and a man were seen roaming in the area around 3 am on Monday. The police then showed the footage of the wife of the complainant, who identified the woman as Patel, a Malwani resident. That afternoon, police officers raided Patel’s house in Ambujwadi area of Malwani.