Missing girl found after 47 days, one held

JAIPUR: Almost 47 days after a 3-year-old girl went missing from a slum at Bagwas in Pratapgarh district, police on Sunday evening recovered the child and arrested a private school teacher. The accused said he knew the parents of the girl were not able to afford her education, thus, he took her under his care. Police said they were still interrogating why he kidnapped the child.
According to police, the girl went missing on September 20.The girl's father told police that he suspected a private school teacher of kidnapping her. Thereafter when the police started the investigations, the teacher's role was verified.
“He neither called the girl's family members nor used his mobile phone during this period. He took the girl to a distant village in Madhya Pradesh. He had also given his wrong identity to residents of the village where he started living with the child. Following continued surveillance and inputs from MP police, our team managed to find the place where the accused had kept the girl,“ said a senior officer of Pratapgarh district on Monday.
The girl's father runs a tea stall where the accused, identified as Dushyant (30), used to visit regularly. “He used to give candies and chocolates to the kids returning from school and had also shown his affection for the kidnapped girl.
On September 20, when the father of the girl found her missing, he suspected Dushant to be behind the kidnapping and lodged a complaint at Pratpagarh police station,“ the officer added.
After the arrest, Dushyant (30) claimed that he knew that the girl's parents will not be able to raise her properly, thus he decided to raise her. “It is a lame excuse. If he had this thing in mind he would have informed the parents and done so in the village itself. Every accused says this after being arrested,“ said Kalu Ram Rawat, superintendent of police, Pratapgarh, told TOI.