Cops take kidnapping lightly, lose track of 7-yr-old

Nagpur: Taking kidnapping of a seven-year-old boy lightly is now proving costly for Kalamna police. The investigating team has lost track of the victim leaving them groping in the dark.
The boy’s economically weak family is now pinning hopes on nothing but a miracle.

Dheeraj Mahato, a student of Std II, was allegedly abducted by Mithun Paswan on September 27 by luring him to buy boiled eggs. Dheeraj was taken away by Mithun, an acquaintance of his father Fekan, when he was playing in front of his shanty at Laxmi Nagar near Kalamna market.

After looking for Dheeraj for a while, the family members and their friends approached Kalamna police next day. Despite registering an offence of kidnapping, police failed to understand the gravity of the case in the beginning.

The cops also did not share the case with zonal DCP Harsh Poddar for reasons best known to them. As a result, they are yet to make any headway in the case.

Though there has been no ransom call yet, the Mahatos expressed concern about Mithun’s real motive behind kidnapping the boy 16 days ago. Dheeraj is elder of the two siblings.

Police traced Mithun’s address to Dahar in Darbhanga district of Bihar, which the accused had shared with the Mahatos and others in Kalamna. However, it turned out to be fake. Around 3-4 days after the incident, the cops visited Darbhanga with Fekan only to return empty handed.

The villagers told police that they have never seen or heard of anyone named Mithun after being shown his photograph.

Senior PI of Kalamna police Khushal Tijare claimed that the boy was kidnapped by a distant relative of the Mahatos. He also claimed that the boy was friendly with Mithun and would not stay without him.

But when TOI spoke to Sangeeta, mother of the boy, said that Mithun was not related or connected to them. Like other labourers, Mithun had accompanied Fekan to work for a couple of times.

Sangeeta said Mithun was playing with Dheeraj after his son came back from school. “Mithun wanted my son to accompany him for eating eggs, but I refused. Later, I had to relent as my son was crying and Mithun had promised to return soon,” she said.

It is learnt that Mithun worked under one Raju Thekedar, but he too has claimed to have no clue about his whereabouts. “Mithun lived like a vagabond. I have already told police about it. Someone had called up Fekan informing that Rs1.36 lakh was deposited in Mithun’s account. I had also shared the number with police,” said a neighbour.

Tijare said he has now formed a team to trace the abducted child. “We have also sent posters of the boy to Bihar,” he added.