Thane court sentences three people to 3 years RI for kidnapping baby

Thane, Dec 21 (PTI) A court in Maharashtra's Thane has sentenced three people to three years of rigorous imprisonment for kidnapping a five-month-old baby in the city.

Additional sessions judge Suryakant S Shinde found the accused, including two women, guilty of charges under section 137(1)(b) (kidnapping) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for the crime that took place in October last year.

A copy of the order dated December 15 was made available on Saturday.

As per the case details, the infant's mother, Vanita Rakesh Pawar, a scrap collector, reported that he was abducted while the family was sleeping under the Rabodi flyover bridge on October 12, 2024.

Following a swift investigation, the CCTV footage from nearby buildings was analysed, and it captured a woman in a red dress picking up the baby and later meeting two other accused to hand him over.

Based on a tip-off, a police team raided a premises in Rabodi, rescued the baby, and arrested Javed Amjat Ali Nhavi (35), Jayashree Yakub Naik (45), and Surekha Rajesh Khandagale (34).

The judge relied on the digital evidence and noted that Nhavi had been externed from Thane, Navi Mumbai and Mumbai and had violated the externment order.

He received an additional one-year sentence under the Maharashtra Police Act for entering Thane despite an active externment (expulsion) order.

The court acquitted them of charges under section 143 (trafficking), noting that while kidnapping was proven, the "exact purpose" (such as sale or forced labour) was not established by the prosecution. PTI COR ARU