17-year-old girl kidnaps minor boy for ransom, arrested

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A 17-year-old girl was arrested by the Thane police for allegedly kidnapping a minor boy and asking for a ransom of Rs 6 lakh. According to the 11-year-old boy's mother, who works as a tailor, her son went to his tuition classes on Saturday afternoon but did not return.

Later in the evening, the mother of the minor boy received a call from an unidentified person who demanding Rs 6 lakh if she wanted her son back, Shanti Nagar police station's senior inspector Mamta D'Souza said. The female caller threatened the mother that the boy would be killed if she approached the police, and asked her to bring the money in a bag and keep it on a bike near Shivaji Chowk in Bhiwandi town, the police officer said.

When the boy's mother rushed to inform her husband, who works at jewelry shop about the alleged kidnapping of her son, she found her son alone and crying near the shop on Quarter Gate road, D'Souza said.

The boy told his mother that a female, whom he referred to as "aunty", allegedly took him away while he was returning from his tuition classes and asked inquired about his father's workplace. He said that as he was walking along with the female aunty, he managed to give her the slip and came running to his father's shop, she said.

In a bid to find the culprit, the boy's mother informed Shanti Nagar police station about the incident and as per their instructions, she kept a bag on the bike, as specified by the kidnapper. When a 'burqa'-clad lady came to the spot to pick the bag, the police nabbed her the kidnapper, D'Souza said.

The arrested accused, who is a minor, told the police she used to go to the boy's mother to get her clothes stitched and that she kidnapped the minor boy for money, the official said. She was booked under Indian Penal Code Section 364-A (kidnapping for ransom) and sent to a remand home, D'Souza added.

With inputs from PTI

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