A nine-month-old boy who was allegedly kidnapped over a month ago has been rescued after an extensive search launched in two States, the police said on Sunday.
The child was kidnapped from a pavement near Bangla Sahib Gurudwara in central Delhi when his homeless parents were begging at the red light, they said.
The victim has been safely rescued from a village in Punjab’s Firozpur.
“We have arrested one Ajit Singh, from Firozpur’s Haraj village, and a woman identified as Sapna alias Kajal [20]. They had kept the child at Ajit’s home. The duo had planned to raise the infant as their own,” said an officer.
Sapna allegedly told the police that she had resorted to the kidnapping because she was unable to conceive for four years. Her husband was arrested in a crime three years ago and is in jail, the police said.
“After her husband’s arrest, Sapna went to Punjab’s Amritsar and started living on the footpath outside the Golden Temple. There she met Ajit, a pavement dweller, and they started living together. When she again failed to conceive, Sapna returned to Delhi and began living on pavements outside Bangla Sahib Gurudwara and in Paharganj near New Delhi railway station,” the officer said.
The victim’s parents — Pooja Devi and Mangal Singh — said Sapna had been living with them on the pavement near the gurudwara for the past two to three months.
“Sapna used to look after my child when my husband and I would be out for work,” said Pooja.
‘Would play with him’
She added that on November 18, she was busy with some work when Sapna came and took her son. The accused said she was going to have tea and would play with him.
“I got worried when Sapna did not return. I alerted my husband and then we looked for Sapna and our boy at all possible places. When we failed to find them, we went to the Parliament Street police station and sought their assistance,” she said.
On January 1, the couple nabbed Sapna and produced her before the police.
Following this, Sapna was questioned at length. She tried to mislead the police but later broke down and confessed to the crime.
The accused told the police that the boy is in Ludhiana. A team was sent there but they could not find the child, the police said.
She was again questioned and this time she took the team to Ferozpur from where the boy was rescued.
Following this, the police arrested Ajit from Ferozpur.
A resident of Kurukshetra, Sapna, had fled her home around five years ago, the police said, adding that she got married and the duo came to Delhi and started living on pavements, the police added.
