Mumbai: A glitch in a closed circuit television (CCTV) camera almost resulted in disaster for a two-and-a-half-year-old girl who had gone missing from near her residence earlier this month. The police, however, had a last-minute brainwave and succeeded in rescuing the girl after nine days.
According to the police, Shifa Sheikh went missing from near her residence in Nirmal Nagar on the afternoon of February 9. Her parents, after searching for her the entire afternoon, approached the police in the evening. In keeping with the procedure for missing minors, the police registered a case of kidnapping and initiated inquiries.
The police first obtained footage of CCTV cameras around the victim’s house and saw a middle-aged woman taking Shifa towards the Bandra railway station. The investigating team then went to the chowky near the the skywalk leading into the station and scanned the footage, but did not see the woman and Shifa anywhere.
“After scanning footage captured from the time Shifa was abducted till late night, we had a sudden idea. At times, due to technical glitches, the camera’s clock goes out of sync with the actual time. We went back to the chowky and started viewing footage from two hours before the time of abduction shown in the first camera,” said Senior Police Inspector Vasudev Jamdade, Nirmal Nagar police station.
The police’s hunch turned out to be true, and the woman was seen taking Shifa into the station through the skywalk. The police then contacted the railway police and asked for CCTV camera footage from all railway stations on the western and harbour line.
After several days of scanning footage, the police identified the suspect and Shifa exiting the Kings Circle railway station on the evening of her abduction. The police then took their search to Kings Circle, scanning footage of the recently installed CCTV cameras in the area, but again drew a blank.
“We undertook a door-to-door search of the slum pocket on the east side of the station. After an entire day of searching, we found Shifa in a house in the slum late on Friday night. She was in the care of another woman, and the suspect seen in the CCTV footage was nowhere to be seen. The woman told us that the suspect had left Shifa in her care, and told her that she would be back for her in a few days,” said Mr. Jamdade.
The police took Shifa to a hospital for medical tests, which confirmed that she had not been harmed in any way. She was then reunited with her parents, while the Nirmal Nagar police continued their inquiries.
“Investigations indicate that this was the handiwork of a gang that kidnaps children and sells them into begging rackets out of the city. Further inquiries are under way,” Mr. Jamdade added.
