Surat: A four-year-old girl kidnapped from Amroli was rescued after being briefly used for begging, capping a relentless four-day search involving over 100 policemen and widespread circulation of CCTV footage on social media that ultimately tipped off investigators about the kidnapper’s location in Ahmedabad.On Monday, the police nabbed the alleged kidnapper, Pappu Khadiya (30) and rescued the girl from the Narol area of Ahmedabad.The girl was abducted on April 2 from the Amroli area while she was playing in a garden on the bank of the Tapi River. After all efforts to trace her failed, the child’s parents approached the police the next day.Surat police commissioner subsequently launched ‘Operation Muskan’, forming multiple teams comprising five police inspectors, nine sub-inspectors and about 110 constables to search for the missing child.During the investigation, police scanned CCTV footage from several locations and spotted the accused walking on a road with the child. Further tracking revealed that he had reached Utran railway station and later travelled to Sayan railway station.Investigations showed that after getting off at Sayan station, he wandered in the village for a few hours before returning to the railway station. As his trail went cold, the police coordinated with units across Gujarat and alerted authorities at all 43 railway stations between Ahmedabad and Mumbai.“The crime branch also alerted Maharashtra and Rajasthan police, besides informing the Railway Protection Force (RPF), Government Railway Police (GRP), railway employees, porters, auto drivers and food stall operators. A large number of people were requested to circulate the CCTV screenshots of the accused with the abducted girl through WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and other social media platforms,” said additional CP (crime branch) Karanraj Vaghela.The efforts paid off when a social media user informed the police that he had spotted the man seen in the footage with the girl in Narol. According to police, Khadiya abducted the girl with the intention of using her to seek alms. “Khadiya earned his livelihood through labour work. As he did not have money to feed his two sons, he thought that if the girl were with him, it would be easier to get money and food while begging. However, we are investigating whether there was any other motive behind the abduction,” a police official said.
