Kidnapped 2-year-old rescued, accused arrested from Solapur

A two-year-old girl, who was kidnapped from Turbhe Store earlier this week, was rescued within hours by the police.

The child had been kidnapped by Imtiaz Khan, 20, who lived in the same area. The police managed to arrest him at Kurduwadi station in Solapur, from where he was planning to flee by train.

The accused originally hails from Uttar Pradesh and had been living at Turbhe Store for the past few months. The police said that he had an altercation with the girl’s family over a trivial matter a few days ago. He decided to teach the girl’s father, Rafiq Khan, a lesson.

On realising that his daughter Alia was missing, Rafiq searched in the area but did not find her. He learnt that Imtiaz too was missing. He then complained to Turbhe police station.

Senior police inspector Ramchandra Deshmukh said, “We formed a team under assistant police inspector Rahul Khatal and police sub-inspector Bhushan Kapadnis.”

A team of police led by subinspector Pradeep Sarphare started tracking Imtiaz’s phone location. They learnt that he was heading towards Lonavla.

Deshmukh said, “As the suspicion of his involvement grew, Kapadnis and constables Datta Bhore and Sanjay Kanoj rushed to Lonavla. By the time they reached there, we learnt that the accused was in a train heading towards Solapur. We did not know which train he had boarded.”

Deshmukh said, “The team sought help from Kurduwadi police in Solapur. We informed Kurduwadi police sub-inspector Pankaj Nikam. He along with constables rushed to the station.”

They searched a train that had arrived at the station from Mumbai and found Imtiaz and Alia. The child has been handed back to her parents.