West Bengal minor rescued from Tardeo, 'kidnapper' held

A 15-year-old girl, who had eloped from West Bengal with a man three months ago, was rescued from Mumbai after she made a distress call to her mother. The police have arrested the man, identified as Raju Nisad alias Panto (21), a resident of Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh, as the girl's family had registered a case of kidnapping against him.

According to the police, a volunteer from an NGO informed the Social Service Branch (SSB) of city police on September 16 that a girl, kidnapped from West Bengal three months ago, had recently called her mother from a Mumbai-based number, informing her that she wanted to return home.

The SSB officers acted swiftly and traced the phone number to a general store in New Chikhalwadi area of Tardeo. After making inquiries, the police came to know that the man and the girl had been making purchases at the shop.

A police team then kept a watch and got hold of Nisad and the victim as soon as they arrived there on September 17. The police also made inquiries with the Basirhat police station, North 24 Parganas in West Bengal, and found out that a case under sections 363 (punishment for kidnapping) and 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her for marriage) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against Nisad.

Further probe revealed that Nisad and the victim had married each other in a temple in Mumbai three months ago, and a medical examination at the Nair Hospital revealed that she was pregnant.

"At present, Nisad is in Tardeo police's custody. The Basirhat police have been asked to send a team to Mumbai," said an officer from the Tardeo police station.