Mumbai Crime: Girl bites into kidnapper's palm, escapes in Nalasopara

Meena Rathod along with her children. Pics/Hanif Patel

An eight-year-old girl from Virar managed to escape from the clutches of a woman when she tried to kidnap her while she was on her way back home from school on Monday. Meanwhile, in another kidnapping attempt in Nalasopara, neighbours caught hold of the accused man when he tried to abduct a seven-year-old girl while she was playing on the staircase of the building where she resides.

Victim escapes

According to the police, in the first case, the woman accosted the girl near Kolhapur dhaba in Virar East and tried to lure her with a chocolate. When the girl refused it, the woman forcibly picked her up in her arms and pressed her mouth with her palm so that she couldn't scream. She even threatened to kill her. While trying to escape her clutches, the girl bit into her palm, which forced the woman to loosen her grip. Taking this opportunity, the girl escaped from the spot. On reaching home, she narrated the incident to a neighbour, as her mother was out for some work.

Her mother Meena Rathod, who works as a daily wage labourer, said that she usually drops her daughter to school and picks her up as well, but on the day of the incident she got busy with some work. When the neighbour told her that someone tried to kidnap her daughter, she asked the girl what had happened. Narrating her ordeal to Rathod, the girl said, "When I bit into the woman's hand, she loosened her grip on me and sat down. That is when I managed to escape from the spot. The woman then escaped in a vehicle."

With the help of the neighbour, Rathod then approached the Virar police and registered a case against an unknown person. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a police officer said, "We have registered a case against an unknown person under various sections of IPC. The girl couldn't explain how the accused looked as her face was covered. We are trying to get CCTV footages from nearby areas to investigate the matter."

Attempt foiled

In the second case, which has been registered at Tulinj police station, a man tried to kidnap a seven-year-old girl while she was playing on the staircase of the Nalasopara building where she resides with her father, who works as a plumber. However, neighbours managed to catch hold of him and hand him over to the cops. After registering a kidnapping case on her father's complaint, the police arrested him. A police officer said, "Investigation has revealed that the accused tried to kidnap the girl as her father was not giving him a job."

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