17 March,2011 06:47 AM IST | | Shiva Devnath
Manhunt for woman abductor who kidnapped girls outside Jogeshwari school and later set them free in Pune; questions are being raised about a child trafficking racket
Two teenage girls, who were kidnapped outside their Jogeshwari West school on Monday afternoon and whisked away to Pune in a white tempo, managed to flee from the clutches of their abductors the next morning.
Relatives of the kidnapped victims filed a complaint with the Amboli police station
Eyewitnesses told MiD DAY that when three kidnappers headed for drinks leaving the girls in the vehicle in the custody of an accomplice, the woman abductor had a sudden change of heart and she decided to help her hapless victims to escape.
Manhunt
Cops are busy preparing sketches of the woman on the basis of her description provided by the rescued girls. The police have already launched a massive manhunt for her.
RPF inspector Mahendra Rokde confirmed that two girls were found outside Pune railway station on Tuesday morning.
"Their parents were informed immediately and the girls have been sent back to their homes in Mumbai," added Rokde.
The police quoted one of the victims, Std XI students at Faruqi School, as saying, "As soon as we stepped out of our school after writing our tests, a white tempo screeched to a halt in front of us. Suddenly, the vehicle's door opened and two men pulled us inside.
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When we tried to raise an alarm, they put handkerchiefsu00a0 to our nose and soon we fell unconscious. But when we regained consciousness, we were surprised to see 18-20 other kids in the vehicle.
A few of them were conscious, while others were asleep. There were four kidnappers, two women and as many men, in the vehicles."
Pune angle
The revelation that there were 18 more kids sent the police into a tizzy, forcing them to suspect a huge inter-state traffic gang is at work.
"If the mysterious woman, who let off the girls, could be tracked, the gang would be busted in no time," said a senior police official.
According to the police, Pune could be a transit point from where the girls could be sent to different designations across the country.
The possibility of girls being forced into immoral trade in Pune cannot be ruled out as the city has a plethora of bars.
Sabiya Khan, mother of one of the victims, said, "We have registered a case of kidnapping at Amboli police station."
Inspector Harish Goswami of the police station confirmed that an abduction case had been lodged.
"Our team will go to Pune for further investigations. It is too early to say whether the victims were kidnapped by members of an inter-state trafficking gang," he said.
