After five days of frantic and laborious search for a Siberian Husky kidnapped from Vasant Kunj here, the canine was finally found on Thursday morning, tied to a pole at the very spot from where it was abducted.
Minor injuries
Barring a few minor injuries to its front legs, the pet dog, ‘Zoro,’ was safe. Police believe that the kidnappers succumbed to the pressure created by the investigators, and the media coverage the incident received.
But more intense was the search operation launched by Zoro’s owner Aftab Khan, his family and friends. From Mahipalpur to Munirka and from Kishangarh to Gurgaon Border, about a dozen of them visited scores of slums and farmhouses, in a bid to find Zoro.
“We spent at least five hours everyday searching for Zoro since he was abducted on Friday. We walked miles each day, covering one public park after another, peeping into every hut in the slums we came across. We showed Zoro’s photos to tea shop owners, scrap pickers, anyone who interacts with people,” Mr. Khan told The Hindu .
Khan did not want to take any chances, so he would even walk into farmhouses on the pretext of seeking drinking water. “I would scan the farmhouses and ensure Zoro is not tied inside them before resuming the search,” Mr. Khan recounted while distributing sweets to anyone who visited his home.
Online campaign
The family had also started an online campaign, drawing the attention of Delhi’s animal lovers on social media. In the meantime, they kept the pressure on the police, visiting the Vasant Kunj (South) police station whenever they felt the probe’s intensity slackened. “But the police were helpful and had promised to retrieve Zoro for us,” said Mr. Khan.
Though Zoro was with the family for just last nine months, his abduction had taken its toll on his family. His nine-year-old daughter, Alisha, whose eighth birthday gift was Zoro, had not eaten for two days on hearing about her pet gone missing.
On Thursday, Alisha was all excited about breaking her Roza fast in the evening. “I will eat to my heart’s content in the evening. We are also throwing a dinner party for all our family members, neighbours and policemen who contributed in bringing back Zoro,” Alisha said coyly while feeding biscuits to Zoro.
It was Sunil, a security guard at one of the local farmhouses, who spotted Zoro tied to an electric pole around 6 a.m. on Thursday. “Having frequently encountered him during his morning walks, Sunil immediately identified him and informed us,” said Mr. Khan’s son Asif.
With his fur clipped, Zoro may not come across as a Siberian Husky at the first look, but his owners say he was given the new look just a few days ago. “We got his fur chopped to encounter the heat. The kidnappers had no role to play in that,” said Asif.
Zoro was out for a morning walk with Khan last Friday when some men in a Toyota Innova allegedly abducted him from the road. Suspecting the abductors to be cattle thieves, Khan had alleged Zoro had begun barking and interrupting the car on hearing the cries of pigs from the vehicle.
