Mother-son duo arrested for kidnapping a minor girl from Shillong

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaApril 30, 2021

A mother-son duo were arrested for kidnapping a minor girl from Shillong.

Pankaj Kumar Bharadwaj (22) and his mother Saraswati Devi were arrested during a rescue operation launched by the police team from East Khasi Hills district, Superintendent of Police Sylvester Nongtnger said on Friday.

The parents of the minor girl had reported at Madanrting police station on March 4, that their daughter had gone missing on her way to school following which immediately, a kidnapping case was registered and investigation was initiated.

The district police swung into action to find Pankaj whereabouts as it was learnt that he was in Guwahati (Assam), Darjeeling (WB), Siliguri (WB) and Dhubri (Assam).

Police teams in each of these locations were activated and look out notices were sent to all police stations in India to apprehend the accused and recover the child, but all in vain.

Later, it was learnt that the absconding accused was being aided by his mother from the state of Himachal Pradesh.

A police team from East Khasi Hills left for Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh on April 7, to search for the minor girl, Pankaj Bharadwaj and his mother Saraswati Devi.

The SP said the team was able to apprehend Saraswati Devi in this operation but the accused and victim were not found.

Further investigation narrowed down the search to Jorhat (Assam). Again, on April 30, a team from the East Khasi Hills police left for Jorhat.

“In the search operation undertaken with the assistance of Jorhat police, they were able to successfully rescue the minor girl and arrest the accused, Pankaj Kumar Bhardwaj,” he said.

According to the SP, the team is currently on their way back to Shillong with the minor girl and the arrested person who will be forwarded to court.