Apurva Sarang, wife of the estate agent arrested for abducting a child from Airoli, insists that her husband is innocent, adding that he loves his daughters and was not desperate for a male child
“My husband is a God-fearing man and would never do something like this,” asserted Apurva Abhay Sarang, wife of the man who has been arrested for plotting and executing the abduction of a six-month-old infant in Airoli on Sunday.
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The Sarangs live in Dombivli, and have two school-going daughters. Pic/Datta kumbhar
After arresting the 47-year-old estate agent Abhay Sarang, police officials said that the father of two schoolgirls was longing for a male child, and so hatched a plan to acquire someone else’s (‘Infant reunited with family after Gudi Padwa kidnap drama’, April 1).
mid-day's report
Speaking to mid-day at her Dombivli residence, Apurva said that she and her husband had mutually decided not to have any more kids. She vehemently denied the motive put forward by the police behind the abduction, which points to her husband’s desperation for a male child.
mid-day had reported yesterday how six-month-old Manthan was snatched from his mother’s arms by two bike-borne men while she was on her way to Thane to buy him clothes for Gudi Padwa on Sunday; cops rescued the boy within 12 hours.
Apurva Sarang, who hails from Vengurla, said that she knew nothing about the kidnapping till her husband’s friends called her up with the news. “My husband is in real estate and I have known him for over a decade now. He would keep going in and out of the house at all times of the day, and his job required him not to have any fixed hours of work.
On the eve of Gudi Padwa, he left the house in the afternoon, citing a problem. I thought that a fight had broken out among friends and ignored it. It was only on the early hours of Monday morning that I realised the gravity of the situation. I haven’t even informed my daughters about the matter, as I do not want them to worry now, with their final exams underway.”
Apurva added that she has no clue about the family from which the child was kidnapped. “I am waiting for my husband to be released from police custody, and only then will I believe anything. Till then, I cannot trust anyone on the matter. He loves our daughters, so why would he do something like this? I can still bear a child, but we have chosen not to.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Zone, Suresh Mengade said, “The kidnappers said that they tried to feed the boy some milk, but he refused it. He was restless in his mother’s absence. We are still interrogating them.”