Mumbai police reunite kidnapped infant and mother in less than 24 hours

Nasreen Khan and her nine-month-old baby (centre) were reunited on Thursday

Swift action by the JJ Marg police helped to reunite a young mother with her nine-month-old infant in less than 24 hours after the child was kidnapped during the Eid-e-Milad festival on the evening of November 21.

An officer said the complainant, Govandi resident Nasreen Habibullah Khan, 26, had come to south Mumbai for the festival along with her baby and family. The family sat outside a local mosque, watching the procession was pass by. Nasreen was approached by a woman - later identified as Nashida Mansoori, 25 - who asked to play with the baby.

Disappearing act
"Mansoori first praised the little girl's appearance and then requested her mother if she could hold the child on her lap. Nasreen agreed and handed over her baby to the accused. While the mother was busy talking to her relatives, the kidnapper fled with the infant, disappearing in the festival crowd," said senior inspector Shirish Gaikwad of JJ Marg police station.

The kidnapping took place at 8:30 pm. Nasreen searched for her child, eventually going to the police station to register a kidnapping case. Senior PI Gaikwad formed five teams of officers to search for the child on a war footing, despite being short-staffed due to bandobast duties during the festival. The next day, too, the cops were busy with bandobast for the farmers' protest march passing through JJ Marg.

Nevertheless, they didn't stop their search for the little girl. They checked pulled footage from around 50 CCTV cameras in Pydhonie, Bhendi Bazaar, Clay Road and adjoining areas to track down the kidnapper. They checked both police cameras, as well as footage from CCTV cameras installed at nearby shops.

"The shop owners had already left for the day after downing their shutters. We called and requested them to assist us in tracking down the kidnapper. They returned to their shops at midnight, and allowed us to scrutinise the CCTV footage," said an officer privy to the investigation.

She wanted a baby
Eventually, detection officer Rajendra Ghevdekar and PSI Sachin Dhage and their teams tracked the accused all the way to her house at Masjid Street, where they found her and the baby at 5.10 pm on Thursday.

During interrogation, she told the police that she was "fascinated by how cute the baby was", and decided to kidnap her so she could bring up the child as her own. the cops have learnt that the accused is not from Mumbai; she was visiting a relative at Masjid Street.

"She told us that she kidnapped the baby because she does not have a child," said another officer. However, the police are also investigating whether she is a member of a child-lifting gang.

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