Police say the woman who lifted the baby had befriended his mother and was providing food to the family for the past couple of days
Main accused Farhana Kurban Shaikh. Sketch artist Nitin Mahadev Yadav, a teacher at Chembur Education Society school, had made her sketch to help the cops trace her
Three days after a 10-month-old boy went missing from the Mahim Causeway area, where his family resides, the Bandra Police rescued the toddler from Telangana and arrested four people for kidnapping and selling off the baby. Police said that the woman who lifted the baby while his mother was sleeping, had befriended her and was providing food to the family for the past couple of days. She sold the baby to a Telangana-based man via three others for Rs 3.5 lakh.
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The baby has been identified as Kaif, and he was residing with his mother Mumtaz Shaikh, 40, at Mahim Causeway. His father Naresh Choudhary works as a labourer at a Kalina-based construction site and resides there. They were earlier living at a rented accommodation in Nalasopara, but after Naresh lost his job, they started staying on the footpath and begging in the Bandra and Mahim areas. The child lifter has been identified as Farhana Kurban Shaikh, 33, resident of Bandra West.
The other three accused are Paramdam Gundeti, 50, resident of Khar Danda, Nakka Raju Narsingh, 35, resident of Karim Nagar in Telangana and Vishirikapalya Dharmarao, 50, who works in Telangana as a sub-station operator of an electricity company. A police officer said, “Around 2.45 am on September 1, Mumtaz suddenly woke up and found her baby missing. After looking for him, she finally filed a complaint with the Bandra police around 5 am.”
Police inspector Manohar Dhanawade of Bandra police station said, “We checked the CCTV cameras in the area and spotted Farhana lifting the child. As Mumtaz knew her from before, she helped the cops prepare her sketch, with the help of which she was traced and arrested.” Accused Farhana told the cops that she sold the kid for '3.5 lakh to Paramdam, who then gave Kaif to Vishirikapalya. The Bandra police found Kaif in Vishirikapalya’s house on Friday. They then arrested him.
Assistant Police Inspector, Hemant Fad of Bandra police station said, “Farhana had spotted this family begging on the streets, after which she started providing food to them. She befriended Mumtaz and told her that if she was unable to raise the child then she could give him to her and offered money in return. However, Mumtaz refused to give him to Farhana.”
Deputy CP, Bandra division, Sangram Singh Nishandar said, “We rescued the kid from Telangana and conducted his medical checkup at a local hospital. He has been reunited with his family. We have arrested four accused, who are in custody. They will be produced in court today. We have also seized mobile phones and '3.15 lakh cash from them.”
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