RAJKOT: An 18-month-old girl kidnapped from Nagpur railway station last month was rescued due to the alertness of shopkeepers at Somnath beach in Gir Somnath district. The toddler was abducted so that she could be made to beg.
On November 13, a man named Suraj Khiradkar was questioned by the shopkeepers when they saw him beating the girl on the beach. The shopkeepers tried to intervene, but the man told them that he is her father and asked them to leave. The shopkeepers, however, were not convinced so they informed cops at Prabhas Patan police station.
Police picked up Khiradkar for questioning and admitted the girl to the hospital as she was injured. Khiradkar gave the cops their identity and said that he hails from Amravati in Maharashtra and the girl was his daughter.
As police found Khiradkar’s responses suspicious, they contacted his parents back in Amravati. Cops asked Khiradkar’s parents about their granddaughter, but they said that they did not have any granddaughter as Khiradkar was not married.
When Khiradkar realized that he had been exposed, he admitted on Tuesday that he had kidnapped the girl from Nagpur railway station on October 22 to use her to seek alms.
Police then contacted their counterparts in Nagpur to inquire if they had received any complaint regarding a missing girl. It then came to light that the girl’s mother had approached the police after the toddler went missing. The girl’s mother had come to Nagpur at her parents’ home from Allahabad along with her.
Nagpur police and the girl’s family members were asked to reach Somnath to take the custody of the toddler and also Khiradkar. “The accused will be handed over to Nagpur police as the crime took place there and all legal proceedings will also be done there,” said inspector N M Ahir of Prabhas Patan police station.
