NEW DELHI: A 6-year-old girl “kidnapped by her maternal uncle and wife” was rescued from the India-Nepal border, an official said on Friday.
The girl’s paternal uncle was under his debt of Rs 30 lakhs. To contact the victim’s family, the accused took the help of one of their friends residing in Malaysia, who then sent “ransom messages” to the mother of the victim’s child.
This was revealed after police arrested five people in the case, including the girl’s maternal uncle, Krishnan (39) and, aunt Shahida (25) and their associates Pintu, Sushil and Sunita.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) M Harsha Vardhan said the girl went missing on the intervening night of August 27-28 when she had gone out of her home to a general store at around 8.30 pm.
The DCP said that the girl’s father told the police that neither his daughter reached the store nor did she return home. The family later received voice messages on WhatsApp from a Malaysian number demanding ransom.
During the probe, the police team scanned over 300 CCTV footage and phone numbers, leading them to Sitamarhi in Bihar.
“Subsequently, following local intelligence and detailed interviews of family members, monetary issues were revealed, and it was found that one of the girl’s relatives was also from Sitamarhi,” said the DCP.
Suspicions arose when the girl’s maternal uncle Krishnan was constantly giving evasive replies. When put to sustained questioning, he broke down and confessed about conspiring to abduct the girl for ransom.
Krishnan further told the cops that he along with his wife Shahida and three other associates had been planning for over a month and ultimately committed the crime on August 27 night.
The girl, kidnapped from near her house in central Delhi, was taken to Bihar from where the accused were planning to take her to Nepal, where the girl’s uncle residing.