CUTTACK: Two days after a seven-year-old girl was allegedly abducted from the Cuttack railway station while she was waiting for a train along with her maternal grandparents, Commissionerate Police on Monday informed that she has been rescued, while the kidnapper arrested from the Balikuda railway station.
The accused, 52-year-old Rajkishore Routray alias Raju of Thoria Sahi under Mangalabag police station is a ragpicker. Briefing mediapersons on the day, police commissioner S Dev Datta Singh said the girl was rescued on Sunday afternoon from the Kaipadar Road railway station by the RPF deployed there.
The incident had occurred on Saturday. Quoting the complaint lodged by the girl’s grandmother, Singh said they had allegedly left her at a spot in the Cuttack station to buy some food. However, on returning, the girl was nowhere to be found.
“Basing on the complaint, investigation was launched, comprising 10 teams headed by ACPs and inspectors. The police teams in coordination with the RPF control room detected a faint movement pattern along the railway tracks, indicating the route through which the accused appeared to have taken the minor girl. They followed the movement trail by examining multiple CCTV cameras along the suspected route and footage of adjoining and surrounding,” Singh said.
He said the accused, in order to evade arrest, frequently changed his clothing, and shaved his beard and moustache. He also moved through different police stations to avoid getting caught. He was subsequently nabbed from the Balikuda railway station by a team deployed there.
During interrogation, Routray reportedly revealed that after kidnapping the girl, he had taken her towards Khurda. “The accused said he was a lonely man and kidnapped the girl to engage her in ragpicking or begging,” said a senior police officer from the investigating team.
After his arrest, police reportedly contacted the Bhubaneswar and Khurda Road stations’ RPF during which the latter informed them about rescuing a girl on Sunday. On verifying her identity, police established that she was the same girl who had been kidnapped from the Cuttack railway station.