3-year-old boy from Gujarat kidnapped, strangled by cousin; Body found in Mumbai train toilet
AHMEDABAD: Gujarat's Surat city has been shaken by the chilling kidnapping and murder of a 3-year-old boy. The prime suspect, his own cousin, dumped the child's body in a train toilet in Mumbai before vanishing with the mother's mobile phone. Now, multiple police teams are chasing him across Maharashtra and Bihar in a high-stakes manhunt.
The Amroli Police of Surat City and Surat Crime Branch are now locked in a cross-state chase for the accused, 26-year-old Vikas, who is on the run after allegedly strangling his little cousin.
The nightmare began on August 21, when Vikas who had recently arrived from Bihar to stay with his aunt Durgadevi in Amroli area of Surat took her son, Akash alias Aarav, out to play. Both disappeared soon after, along with Durgadevi's mobile phone.
Days later, Akash's body was discovered stuffed inside the dustbin of an AC train coach toilet at Lokmanya Tilak station, Mumbai. The boy had been strangled with the very rope tied around his neck.
The accused, a native of Siwan in Bihar, escaped immediately after the murder. Police sources revealed he had previously worked in Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, and has been living a reclusive, erratic life since returning.
The investigation gained momentum after police traced the missing mobile phone belonging to the child's mother which Vikas carried with him. However, he has kept officers off-track by frequently switching the device on and off, leaving only fleeting signals in Mumbai, Thane and Bihar.
CCTV footage from railway stations on the Kushinagar train's route and Lokmanya Tilak station has become the focus of the probe. At the same time, officers are struggling to extract details from the grieving family, who remain in deep shock.
Police insiders describe Vikas as a loner with no friends and no personal mobile phone often wandering without purpose. No prior criminal record has surfaced so far, but his sudden violent act has stunned investigators.
Tensions had reportedly been simmering in the family. Vikas's mother Rabri Devi had been living with her sister Durgadevi in Surat, but quarrels broke out over accommodation and work. Whether this dispute triggered the killing remains unanswered.
At present, five teams from the Surat City’s Amroli Police, Crime Branch, and Local Crime Branch are deployed in Mumbai, Thane and Bihar to nab the fugitive.