JSR police arrests childless couple from Bengal for kidnapping 3-yr-old girl

B.Sridhar | TNN

Jamshedpur: The city police on Tuesday arrested a couple and rescued a three-year-old girl, who was allegedly kidnapped by them from Sakchi market on May 26, it said on Wednesday. Police said the couple who hailed from Purulia district in West Bengal have confessed to have kidnapped the child because they had been unable to conceive even after 12 years of their marriage.

City SP Lalit Meena said that the accused were identified as Abdul Jasim, alias Lakhan (42), and his wife, Afsana Begum (30).

“The girl’s parents, Md Imtiaz (36) and Rukhsar (34), residents of Hayat Nagar under the Ulidih police station limits in Mango, had gone to the Sakchi market for shopping ahead of Bakrid when the kid accidently got separated in the crowd leading to the abduction,” said the SP.

Noticing the child crying, Afsana approached her, wiped her tears, gave biscuits, and comforted her by saying that she would help reunite her with her parents. Afsana then called her husband, who runs a mobile phone repair shop in Sakchi market. Together, they led the toddler out of the market and quickly took her to their residence in Kapali.

On May 27, the couple took her to their native village in Purulia. “They had been living at the Old Purulia Road, under the jurisdiction of Kapali police station in adjoining Seraikela-Kharsawan district, for the last few years,” the SP said.

The girl’s parents lodged a missing case on May 26 at the Sakchi police station post following which SSP Piyush Pandey formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the leadership of DSP (City) Sanjiv Kumar.

The SIT scanned footage from over 50 CCTV cameras installed in and around the market, questioned over a dozen suspects, and utilised technical inputs and intelligence to secure leads.

“Acting on it, the probe team raided Pusti village in Jhalda on Tuesday and safely rescued the girl,” he said.

According to police, the accused couple admitted that social stigma surrounding their inability to conceive a child after 12 years of marriage drove them to commit the crime.