TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
CURCHOREM/CANACONA: An attempt to kidnap a toddler from Curchorem on Monday morning came to a dramatic end, when police tracked down the abductors at Gulem-Canacona.
Four persons, including one person claiming to be the child’s biological father, have been arrested in this connection, while the one-and-half year old child was later reunited with her mother.
According to Curchorem Police, three masked men on a motorcycle (GA-09-J-4573) reportedly picked up the child while she was playing near her house at Khammamoll-Curchorem.
The girl’s mother however noticed the incident and recognised one accused as a former acquaintance, while they were fleeing from the site. The mother then alerted the police of the abduction.
A short while later, the mother received a phone call from a woman who identified herself as Minaxi Praful Shetya (20), stating that the child had been kidnapped and had been taken to Gulem-Canacona.
Shetya then asked the mother to proceed to Gulem to collect her child and that she should not inform anyone about the incident.
Police however managed to trace the location of the phone call and sent a lady constable in plainclothes along with the mother to meet the caller at Gulem. A police team followed the mother and the lady cop.
On reaching the site, Shetya went to meet the mother near a petrol pump at Gulem but she was promptly nabbed by a police team.
The police then asked Shetya about the whereabouts of the kidnapped child and acting on the details, a police team raided a rented room and rescued the minor child from the three accused, Prakash Parishwad, Rajesh Velip and Praful Shetya.
According to police, the main accused, Prakash Parishwad from Karnataka, claimed the child was his daughter following a relationship with the child’s mother prior to her marriage. However the girl’s mother flatly denied the claim and said the child was born as a result of her marriage with her husband.
Motorists who had gone for a refill at Gulem Petrol Pump late Monday evening were taken aback by the dramatic turn of events, as policemen were moving around the site. According to an unidentified eyewitness, a woman and two girls were standing near the petrol pump, while the woman was talking on her mobile phone.
“Suddenly, a police jeep came to the site and headed straight towards a restaurant, located across the petrol pump. At this time, the woman who was speaking on mobile phone ran towards the restaurant,” informed the eye witness. Soon, a Canacona police team also rushed to the site to assist their counterparts in the kidnap case.
Curchorem Police arrested all four accused under Sections 363, 365 r/w 34 IPC and under Section 8 of Children Act. Police has also attached the motorcycle and PI Siddhant Shirodkar is investigating the case.
