|
|
|
|
|
NEW DELHI: Delhi Police were on Tuesday investigating the 'human
trafficking' angle in the case of the kidnapping of 18-month old Ishaan from
Maharani Bagh and also searching for a woman called 'Sonia'.
Sources said that there was a gang nicknamed 'Pakkad' in western Uttar
Pradesh, whose modus operandi was to use maids in Delhi to abduct infants
and have those maids hand over the kids to the kidnappers there. They in
turn would sell the children or make ransom calls to the parents.
They added, "We had arrested Sonia in 2009 in a similar case in East Delhi
where she picked up a child after working in a house for a few days.
Thereafter a call was received from Etta (Uttar Pradesh) demanding ransom
money. This could be the same gang or a similar one". In Ishaan's case, no
ransom call has been received yet and we suspect that child could have been
kidnapped for selling, said an officer.
Explaining the modus operandi of 'Pakkad', an officer said "They usually
simply assign a female gang member the duty of taking up employment as a
maid,
Police also believe that Seema (20), who fled with the child on Sunday
evening, has not given her real name to employer Vikram Singh. "The Singhs
also made a mistake by not insisting on her address or identity papers
before employing her," gaining the employer's trust, and then disappearing
with the child at a pre-decided and opportune moment". Sonia, according to
the sources, was out on bail after her arrest in 2009 from New Ashok Nagar.
In Ishaan's case, this was the second or third time when Seema was trusted
with taking the child out alone. The child was taken in a pram, which was
also missing and police were yet to recover it. "We suspect that the child
was kept in the pram which is a secure environment for him. Seema possibly
met a gang member who was in some vehicle. Otherwise, if she had wheeled
Ishaan in a pram or taken him in a public vehicle, there would have been
eyewitnesses," said a police officer.
Later in the day, police claimed to have found a mobile charger among
Seema's belongings which suggest that she had a mobile phone. "But she did
not provide any mobile phone number to Ishaan's family, which by itself
raises doubts about her. Also, till now we have not found any family in East
of Kailash who had employed Seema. Prima facie, it appears to be a
premeditated plan," said a senior police officer.
"The police are at a disadvantage as there is no documentation or contact of
Seema. Several teams have been formed and they have been dispatched to
Jharkhand as well as the NCR region where some leads have been developed,"
said joint commissioner of police (south) Amulya Patnaik.
Courtesy:
Courtesy:
