1-yr-old abducted from outside Delhi hosp recovered from UP, 5 held

The child, who was recovered on September 26, had been sold for ₹45,000 to a man in Uttar Pradesh. The nabbed people include the buyer and a juvenile.

A year-old boy, allegedly abducted while sleeping on a footpath outside Ganga Ram Hospital in central Delhi with his parents last Wednesday, has been rescued from Uttar Pradesh’s Mahoba district, police said on Sunday, adding that five people have been held in the matter.

1-yr-old abducted from outside Delhi hosp recovered from UP, 5 held

Deputy commissioner of police (central) Nidhin Valsan said that the child, who was recovered on Friday (September 26), had been sold for ₹45,000 to a man in Uttar Pradesh.

The nabbed people include the buyer and a juvenile. Besides a scooter, car and cash have also been seized in the case, the DCP added.

Police said that the matter was reported on September 24 when the child’s father, Mukesh Kumar, a handicraft seller from Rajasthan, lodged a complaint on finding his son missing from their makeshift sleeping area at Pusa Road. The family had come to Delhi just a day earlier to sell goods at a festival fair near Desh Bandhu Gupta Road, Khan Park area, they said.

A case was registered and investigation was taken up.

“Over 100 CCTV cameras across central Delhi were scanned to trace the suspects’ movements. It was revealed that the child was shifted from a scooter to a car near RML Hospital before being taken out of the city,” Valsan said.

With the help of human intelligence, four people – Anant, 22; Raju, 24; Sahil, 21; and a 17-year-old - were tracked down. They resided in Kali Bari Lane and were apprehended.

During interrogation, they allegedly revealed that the child had been sold to 54-year-old Phoolan Srivas in Mahoba. Police later arrested Srivas from there.

Police said Srivas, who has two married daughters, had offered ₹1 lakh for a male child. The group conspired to abduct a toddler for such a demand. “He said he had no son. Therefore, he wanted a male heir to help him in his old age” an officer aware of the matter said.

The child, however, has been handed over to his parents after a medical examination, police said.