New Delhi: A four-year-old girl who had gone missing from central Delhi’s Chandni Mahal area on June 18 was successfully rescued from an alleged kidnapping and begging racket, police said on Sunday. The accused, a 40-year-old woman identified as Barkha, has been arrested.
According to police, Barkha abducted the child while the girl’s mother had stepped out to fetch drinking water. She allegedly intended to use the child for begging and later sell her once she was older.
A complaint was lodged at Chandni Mahal police station around 5 p.m. on the day of the incident. The child had reportedly gone out with her elder sister but never returned. After initial search efforts failed, police registered a case under Section 137(2) (kidnapping) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Nidhin Valsan formed a special team led by Inspector Mahavir Prasad and Sub-Inspector Akash to investigate. Officers reviewed footage from over 100 CCTV cameras and eventually traced the girl heading alone toward Delhi Gate, near Sanchar Bhawan.
“Through minute analysis of CCTV footage and the help of informants, it was learned that a woman beggar had taken the child to Behta village in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh,” said a police official.
A team was dispatched to the village, where locals confirmed Barkha had brought the girl but fled back to Delhi upon learning the police were pursuing her. Based on this intelligence, officers were deployed in plain clothes at key railway stations in the city.
On Saturday morning, Barkha was spotted getting off a train at Old Delhi Railway Station and attempting to hide with the child near the Shanti Van traffic signal. She was apprehended on the spot, and the girl was safely rescued.
During interrogation, Barkha confessed to kidnapping the child with the intention of forcing her into begging and eventually selling her.
The girl has since been reunited with her family. Police said further investigation is underway to determine if others were involved in the racket.Top of Form
