Police are puzzled as to why the man, would lure the 8-year-old into accompanying him all the way to Nasik and why he would bring back the boy without demanding any money
The CCTV grabs showing the boy (inset) walking off with accused 'Kamlesh'
In a strange case of kidnapping, an eight-year-old boy was abducted from a playground in Chunabhatti on Saturday, and ten days later, on Tuesday, was seen at the same grounds playing with his friends. The Chunabhatti police have registered a case and are on the hunt for the accused.
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Walking off: The CCTV grabs showing the boy (inset) walking off with accused ‘Kamlesh’. According to the child, the duo played, ate and slept in the accused’s native village.
According to the police, the incident occurred in Prem Nagar, where Bhushan Balchandra Sawant stays with his parents. The child is a Std III student in a nearby municipal school and his father is a rickshaw driver.
Said an officer from Chunabhatti police station, “Bhushan didn’t go to school on Saturday and was playing in the nearby Shivaji ground along with his friends. When his uncle Vinod Sawant came to look for him, he couldn’t find the boy anywhere. He couldn’t find him at home as well.” With the help of locals, Vinod scoured the entire area for the boy, but to no avail. The parents then approached the police and filed a complaint.
Kidnap on cam
Police began making enquiries into the case. At the Chunabhatti railway station, officials checked the CCTV camera feed and found that the boy was walking hand in hand with the accused. This gave police a confirmation that the child had been kidnapped. They began circulating pictures of the boy and the screen grab of the accused to several railway stations and bus depots.
However, on Tuesday evening, when police and family members were looking for the man, Vinod was shocked to find the child playing on the same ground with his friends. The family took the child home and the police recorded his statement thereafter.
Speaking to mid-day, Bhushan’s uncle Vinod said, “Bhushan is very young. Initially, the kidnapper introduced himself as Kamlesh and on the pretext of giving him mangoes to eat and a promise to send him to a private school, he abducted Bhushan from Shivaji Maidan at Chunnabhatti.”
He further added, “Later, he was taken to Chunnabhatti station by this so-called Kamlesh and from there, Bhushan went with him to Vashi, and from there to Thane. Bhushan told us that since it was too late when they reached Thane station, they spent the whole night on the Thane railway platform.”
The child recalled catching a State Transport bus and alighting at Nasik bus depot. “Bhushan then says that he was then taken to the kidnapper’s village as he noticed huts made of steel and wood there. The duo then stayed there for two days, where he played, ate and slept,” his uncle told this paper. However, the child only remembers that ‘Kamlesh’ dropped him off at the same ground from where he enticed him to come along.
Bhushan was taken to hospital to check for any signs of assault or injury, but none was found. The accused has been booked under section 363 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code.
Dattatray Naykodi, senior police inspector at Chunabhatti police station, said, “The boy is back. As per his statement, the kidnapper brought him back. We are still hunting for the accused and have made several teams for this purpose.”
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