Acting on a “confession” by a woman, arrested in connection with the abduction of a two-year-old boy from her neighbourhood in Mumbra, that she, along with her relatives, had abducted and killed at least seven other kids, the Thane police on Tuesday spent more than two hours digging a 5x10-ft pit at Shildaighar in Thane to find the bodies, only to realise that they had been misled.

According to the police, the woman, Afreen Munna Khan, 20, kidnapped the child on Sunday, and was arrested from Mumbra railway station with the child the next day. “Khan lured the boy by giving him chips. During the investigation, we found that Khan’s mother Mubina Shah, 40, uncle Azim Ibrahim Divekar, 49, and aunt, Amira Azim Divekar, 46, too, were involved in the case and arrested them,” said a police officer.

Suspecting the family’s role in other cases, they started to quiz her. “During interrogation, Khan confessed to killing the children and burying the bodies in Shildaighar area,” he said.

The investigating officer then alerted the senior police inspector, assistant commissioner of police and deputy commissioner of police. A team of more than 12 police officers was sent to the spot around 3pm. Working for more than 2 hours, with an ambulance on standby, the workers managed to dig a 5x10ft pit, but found nothing. In the meanwhile, hundreds of bystanders gathered at the spot, with some taking videos and pictures.

“Finding nothing at the mentioned spot, we went back to the arrested accused and questioned them. We realised they had misled us to divert our attention from the case,” he said.

First Published: Apr 03, 2019 01:02 IST