‘Kidnapped minors were beaten up’

The three minors who went missing from outside their homes in Nagpada were allegedly locked up in a room in Kurla and beaten up for two days before being taken to Varanasi from where they were rescued.

On April 24, Kulsum Khan (6) and siblings Tarannum Rasul (6) and Gulfam Rasul (4) did not return home after they set out to play. After a search by their neighbours and parents found no trace of them, a missing report was filed at Nagpada police station. On April 28, Tarannum and Kulsum were traced to Varanasi and a Mumbai police team was sent to bring the children back home.

While the children were too traumatised to talk, Zubair Khan, Kulsum’s father, said the children had been beaten up brutally by their kidnappers. “The children told us that two women approached them while they were returning home from YMCA grounds and offered them chocolate and ice cream. They told them to accompany them if they wanted more. Once the children were lured away from the area, they were bundled up into a cab and taken away,” he said.

Sources said that the children had been kept in a room somewhere in Kurla where they were treated well till they started crying. “As evening set in, they started pounding in the door to be let out as they wanted to go home. It was then allegedly that a man entered and beat them up,” said a close family friend.

On April 26, after being locked up for two days, the children were threatened and allegedly drugged and taken to a train station and made to board a train to Varanasi accompanied by the same two women and a man.

The children were allegedly taken to Chaupal Ghat on April 27, where the two girls, seeing their chance, started crying and shouting. “Seeing them shouting, the two women allegedly ran away. And the man sneaked away the four-year-old Gulfam in the crowd that was starting to gather,” said Zubair.

The Nagpada police said that they suspect a gang of child traffickers was behind the kidnappings. “The modus operandi indicates the work of professionals. We have spoken to the Uttar Pradesh police and also have managed to make some sketches of the women who picked up the children from Nagpada,” said an officer. He added that they are also looking for the taxi that the children were transported in and suspect the taxi driver to be involved.