Man arrested for kidnapping 4-year-old: Cops

NEW DELHI: A 53-year-old man was arrested here for allegedly kidnapping a child to sell him or make him beg, officials said on Monday.

Police said the accused was nabbed while he was trying to flee from the Old Delhi railway station to Meerut, and added the four-year-old child was rescued.

“On Friday at 3 pm, a PCR call was received at Kotwali police station regarding the kidnapping of a four-year-old child. Complainant Ruksana told police she was sleeping on the footpath near the parade ground, close to the Red Fort. When she woke up in the morning, her son was missing,” DCP (north) M K Meena said.

“The team immediately checked about 370 CCTV cameras around the crime scene and found that a man was seen roaming around the parade ground parking lot where the woman was sleeping. Due to the darkness, nothing was clear. The team continuously followed the suspect using CCTV cameras,” said the DCP.

According to the police, the person was seen going towards the Jama Masjid with the kidnapped child, wearing a cap and a mask to hide his face. The team continued to track the person through CCTV footage.

The man then vanished after visiting New Delhi railway station. Surveillance footage identified him there. On Saturday, information surfaced that he was near Old Delhi railway station with the kidnapped child, planning to board a train. He was apprehended, and the child was rescued,” stated the DCP. The accused, self-identified as Sekhu from Shamli, UP, now living as a vagrant in Gandhi Park, disclosed his recent release from Muzaffarnagar jail after a 7-year sentence for murdering his sister-in-law. His wife left with their children, prompting his descent into drug addiction.