Mumbai: 10-year-old outsmarts kidnapper, saves toddler cousin, herself

This picture has been used for representational purposes

A brave 10-year-old rescued her two-year-old cousin and herself from a kidnapper at Pant Nagar on Friday. The police are looking for the woman who tried to kidnap them. The 10-year-old had come to Mumbai a few days back with her mother and brother from Satara to meet her grandfather who is unwell.

Her father arrived on Friday morning. On Friday morning, the older girl's mother asked her to buy a soap from a local general store near their relative's house where they were staying, in Govandi. On her way out, the girl took her two-year-old cousin with her. When they didn't return for an hour, the family began to look for them.

"A shop keeper told them a woman took the younger girl and asked the older girl to go with them," said a police officer. The family went to Deonar police station after a couple of hours of search. At the Deonar police station, the girl's mother received a call from an unknown number. When she answered, the girl spoke to her. She told her mother they were with a traffic policeman at Pant Nagar. After the girls were handed over to them, the 10-year-old's father revealed what had happened.

"When they went to the general store, a woman, supposedly in her 30s, took the two-year-old with her saying she would give her a chocolate. Seeing that, the older girl followed them. The woman took the girls with her and got into an auto. My daughter realised something was wrong and decided to wait for an opportunity to get away," he said. When the auto stopped at a signal in Laxmi Nagar at Pant Nagar, the older girl jumped out of the auto and ran towards a traffic cop. Police said the kidnapper tried to run behind her but dropped the younger girl when she saw the 10-year-old run towards the cop.

She fled the spot. The traffic policeman rescued both the girls and called the older girl's mother on the number she gave him. The police said they have got images of the kidnapper from CCTV footage and the girl has identified her. "We have rescued both the girls and have handed them over to their parents. We are currently in the process of registration of an FIR against the unknown accused," said Ragini Bhagwat, senior inspector, Deonar police station.

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