Dehradun: The Dehradun Police have busted a racket involving the kidnapping and selling of children and arrested four persons from Uttar Pradesh. Also, a two-year-old child, who had been sold for Rs two lakh, was recovered.
During interrogation, one of the accused, Rakesh, told police that he himself has sold off his two children.
According to the Cantt police station officers, on January 2, a mentally challenged woman, resident of Yamuna Colony in Dehradun lodged a complaint stating that her two sons, aged 5 and 2 years, had been kidnapped.
Acting on the complaint, the Cantt police registered a case and investigations were launched. Upon interrogating residents of Yamuna Colony, police found out that a person named Rakesh, who was the complainant's maternal cousin had visited her house.
Soon after the case was registered, it was revealed that Rakesh had left the complainant's elder son at the gate of Yamuna Colony but no information was available about the younger son.
On interrogating the complainant's family members, it was found that on December 16, 2024, Rakesh and an elderly woman were seen in Yamuna Colony with the complainant and her two children. On December 30, Rakesh left the complainant near her village in Bijnor but her children were not with her at that time.
Police came to know that Rakesh, a resident of Bijnor, has been living on Sahastradhara Road for the last 15 to 16 years. He works as a gardener and cleaner in the Ordnance Factory. Information was received about his involvement in the crime along with another person, Rahul, a resident of Moradabad. Surveillance on Rahul's mobile phone, confirmed that he was in contact with Rakesh. Investigations revealed that Rahul's daughter Tania was also involved in the kidnapping and had hidden the child with her after abuducting him.
After kidnapping, all three were absconding with their mobiles phones switched off. It was found that they were hiding at the house of Rahul's aunt in Amroha. Dehradun Police raided the house and arrested Rakesh and Tania, who confessed that they had sold the two-year-old to two middlemen, Santi and Priyanka in Bijnor's Dhampur for Rs two lakh.
After this, police took both the accused and raided Dhampur Kodhipur, where Priyanka and Santi were arrested. It was then learnt that Priyanka and Santi had sold the child to a family in Sarkathal Shivala in Bijnor. The police team recovered the child from Sarkathal Shivala as mentioned by the accused.
"The accused Rakesh has been working as a cleaner in Dehradun since 2004 and Rahul works with him. In December 2024, Rahul's daughter Tania told him that a woman named Priyanka works with him in Dhampur and a person known to her needs a child, for which they earn good money. On which Rakesh made a plan to sell his maternal uncle's daughter, who is mentally challenged and her two children. On December 16, Rakesh lured the woman and took her children with him. The two-year-old was sold off to Priyanka and Santi in Dhampur for Rs 2 lakh and the money was divided among themselves," SSP Ajay Singh said
The SSP further said that Rakesh left the complainant at her home near Jhalwa in Bijnor on December 30 and on knowing that she had lodged a police complaint, he left her elder son near her home in Yamuna Colony on January 2 due to fear of getting caught. At present, search is on for accused Rahul, who has gone absconding, he added.
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