The Ghatkopar police have arrested a 50-year-old daily wage labourer for a kidnapping case of a 3-year-old boy on Thursday. The minor was later reunited with his family.

The police said the minor used to stay with his mother, who is also a daily wage worker. They used to stay on the footpath below the Metro bridge, near Bhatwadi, Ghatkopar west. The incident took place on June 19, when the boy was sleeping with his mother and went missing. After searching for hours the mother approached the police and registered a case at Ghatkopar police station under section 363 (punishment for murder) of the Indian penal code.

The Ghatkopar police started investigations and started tracing the boy. "The police found the accused and based on technical details a search was carried out to trace him," said a police officer.

Ghatkopar police then identified and arrested Mehboob Shaikh, 50, who is from Ahmednagar. "We have arrested the accused on Thursday for kidnapping. During the investigation we found the accused use to mostly take care of kids. He did not like that the boy was staying on a dirty footpath. He claimed that he wanted to give the boy a bright future. So he took him to his village in Ahmednagar. The accused Shaikh will be produced in court," said Jitendra Aagarkar, senior police inspector, Ghatkopar police station.