Driver abducts boy to pay debts back home

MUMBAI, July 27: The four-and-a-half-year-old son of a millionaire abducted from Kurla on July 25 was recently traced to a village near K...

MUMBAI, July 27: The four-and-a-half-year-old son of a millionaire abducted from Kurla on July 25 was recently traced to a village near Karjat in Raigad district. The millionare’s driver, who had staged the abduction to raise Rs 70,000 he needed to pay his debts back home, was arrested earlier.

Sunil Vishwambharnath Mishra (23) employed as a driver with Hafiz Jalil Shaikh took the boy, Shah Alam, out for a walk on the evening of July 25. When he did not return for a long time, Shah Alam’s parents got worried and lodged a complaint at the Nehru Nagar police station. A few hours later Mishra returned home and dropped the bomb shell – Shah Alam, he told a stunned Shaikh family, had been abducted by three men in a Cielo car.

While the womenfolk broke into tears, the boy’s father continued questioning his driver and soon realised that he was making up the story of kidnapping. The matter was then reported to the Unit VII of the crime branch and then began another round of interrogation under which Mishracracked. He revealed that he had left the boy in the jungles of Karjat, his hands and legs tied up. Police and the Shaikh family could not believe their ears – four-year-old Shah Alam, who had just learnt to talk, alone in a jungle with his hands and legs tied up!

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A crack team comprising Senior Police Inspector Vilas Tupe, API Ansar Peerzade, SP Pandurang Waval and Havaldars Jadhav, Shinde and Hande rushed to the spot guided by Mishra. Their worst fears came true when they found the boy missing. The team, however, did not give up and continued questioning people from neighbouring villages.

Their efforts finally paid off and they were told that the boy was rescued by a automan. Shah Alam was finally traced to Mircholi village near Karjat and was brought to Mumbai and admitted to Bhabha Hospital for treatment of abrasions.