A recent video from Mathura railway station went viral in the country, where a man was seen kidnapping a child sleeping next to its mother on a platform. The incident took place on 24 August and it took about four days for the police to bring back the child to his family.

Superintendent of Police (SP) of Government Railway Police (GRP) Agra, Md. Mustaque, IPS, along with a team of several other officers and personnel, managed to nab the culprits, who were involved in the kidnapping, in just a matter of four days and bring the seven-month-old child safely back to his mother. The team had to engage in rigorous monitoring of CCTV footage to track the kidnapper’s movement to get to the child.

RIGOROUS MONITORING

It was around 4:28 am of 24 August when Deep Kumar, a resident of Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh, kidnapped the seven-month-old child, Sanjai, from the Mathura railway station. The incident was caught on the CCTV camera clearly, and as soon as the mother woke up to find her child missing, she complained to the local railway police.  An FIR was registered under Section 363 and the matter was taken up on an urgent note.

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While talking to Indian Masterminds, SP GRP Agra, Md. Mustaque said, “CCTV footage were monitored immediately and a route chart was made by following the kidnapper’s movement. He took an auto rickshaw from the railway station and then headed towards Hathras. CCTV footage of various other places were monitored, like Agra, Mathura, Hathras, Kasganj, Bareilly, Budaun to track the kidnapper’s movement.”

Six teams were formed, each headed by a Deputy Superintendent, and each given a specific task. Mr. Mustaque said, “The main aim was to bring back the child safely. Thirty five people were put on a war footing to get as much information about the kidnapper as possible and get the location where he has taken the child. The information was also gathered manually by asking thousands of people in various places. People readily supported us as the case became viral.”

CHILD TRAFFICKING RACKET

It was soon found out that more people were involved in the kidnapping and a doctor couple from Hathras were the main kingpins who were running this racket from a hospital they own, Bankey Behari Hospital. The hospital was being used as a front for their illegal activities which were being carried out the help of four of their associates, namely Deep Kumar,40, Poonam, 43, Manjeet, 43, and Vimlesh, 38.

The child was finally found from the house of a Bharatiya Janata Party corporator, who had bought the child by paying Rs. 1.80 lakh. The child was sold by the doctor couple, Prem Behari, 38, and his wife Dayawati. Apart from them, two auxiliary nursing midwives (ANMs) were also involved in the racket. One of them was posted in Hathras and the other in Firozabad.

Mr. Mustaque said, “These ANMs were kept for scouting married couples who were looking for male children, which was not that difficult a task. After identifying such couples, the doctor couple along with their associates kidnapped male children and sold them for lakhs and lakhs of rupees.”

The child was brought back to the mother safely and a total of eight people have been arrested by the police so far, including Deep Kumar (the kidnapper), Prem Bihari and Dayavati (doctor couple), Vinita Agarwal and Krishna Murari (the couple who bought the child), and lastly, the other three associates, Poonam, Manjit and Vimlesh.

The IPS officer said that further investigation into the matter is still on.