Police deployed a JCB and dug several hours in a 500 sq m area at a shanty where the accused live. (Express)THE ARREST of five people in the kidnapping case of a two-year-old boy has led to a child kidnapping racket in Mumbra, the Thane police said.
On Tuesday, the police deployed a JCB and dug several hours in a 500 sq m area at a shanty where the accused live after one of them claimed during interrogation to have kidnapped other children and killed and buried them. But by last light, the police had not found any human remains in the area. Soil tests will be conducted next to verify the claims made by the accused, the police said.
The Shil-Daighar police started digging near Shilphata at around 3.30 pm, and dug till 7.30 pm after which it was called off due to poor light, the police said. “We were digging in an area of 500 square metres near Sahara Complex on Shil-Mahape Road near Shilphata. Accused Mohammad Azharuddin (36) lives here,” an officer said. “We had employed a JCB and around five policemen were deployed to keep the gathering public away from the site. We dug up to 10 feet under the ground but found nothing,” he added.
The residents of Sahara Complex along with passersby crowded the spot and were kept at bay by the police, although they had no idea what the police were looking for. “We saw the JCB and the police so we stepped down from our building,” Anjum Shaikh (24), a resident of Sahara Complex, said.
Thane Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar said, “We are investigating the matter. As of now, only one missing child complaint against the accused has been registered. We are yet to find out if they had abducted other children.”
According to the Shil-Daighar police, on March 31, a two-year-old boy was abducted from Thakurpada area in Daighar. “Marakunnisa Shah, the mother, lodged a complaint that her son had been kidnapped while he was playing outside the house,” an officer from Daighar police said. “The child was traced near Shilphata by our informants. We found the boy safe in one of the accused’s home,” the officer said.
The accused – Afreen Khan (20), Mubina Shah (40), Azim Divekar (49) and Amira Divekar (46) besides Azharuddin, an auto driver – were arrested from various parts of Daighar and Mumbra. According to the police, Afreen, who lived with Mubina, whom she called “mummy”, has allegedly kidnapped over 10 children in the past five years.
“They have been running a racket where children from poor neighbourhoods would be kidnapped. These children would then be sold off to groups who make kids beg or, in some cases, to families looking for children,” said an officer privy to the investigation.
Khan was the one who allegedly kidnapped the two-year-old who was later found. The child was picked up from his house and she told neighbours that she was the boy’s aunt and was taking him to the market, the police said. “She seems to be behind many missing children in Mumbra and Shil-Daighar area. She told us that she had killed some of the children they had kidnapped. She claimed that they burnt the bodies of children who died and buried it behind their house in Shilphata,” an officer said, adding, “We are interrogating her but she keeps changing her statement, making it difficult for us to find out the truth.”
“We will continue looking for body parts and send samples of the soil to check if bodies were buried here. We are investigating from all angles…,” a senior officer from Thane police said. He added, “As of now we have booked them for abduction of the two-year-old only. We will add other charges, if needed, later.”
