17-yr-old Thane girl detained for kidnapping minor boy

Thane: A 17-year-old girl from Thane district in Maharashtra has been detained for allegedly kidnapping a minor boy for ransom, police said on Sunday.

According to the 11-year-old boy's mother, who works as a tailor, her son went to his tuition classes on Saturday afternoon.

Later in the evening, she received a call from an unidentified person demanding Rs 6 lakh if she wanted her son back, Shanti Nagar police station's senior inspector Mamta D'Souza said.

The female caller also threatened that the boy would be killed if they approached the police, and asked his mother to bring the money in a bag and keep it on a bike near Shivaji Chowk in Bhiwandi town, she said.

When the boy's mother rushed to inform her husband, who works at a jewellery shop, she found her son alone and crying near the shop on Quarter Gate road, D'Souza said.

The boy told his mother that a female, whom he referred as "aunty", allegedly took him away while he was returning from his tuition classes and asked about his father's workplace.

He said while walking along with the female, he managed to give her the slip and came running to his father's shop, she said.

In a bid to find the culprit, the boy's mother informed the police about the incident and as per their instructions, she kept a bag on the bike, as specified by the caller.

When a 'burqa'-clad female came to the spot to pick the bag, the police nabbed her, D'Souza said.

The accused, who is a minor, told the police she used to go to the boy's mother to get her clothes stitched and that she kidnapped the minor for money, the official said.

She was booked under Indian Penal Code Section 364-A (kidnapping for ransom) and sent to a remand home, D'Souza added.