A 22-year-old man accused of kidnapping a child allegedly escaped from the custody of a Mumbai Police team at Howrah station on Friday.
The accused was arrested within 24 hours by Howrah GRP, while the minor girl was rescued.
According to Government Railway Police (GRP) sources, a team of officers from Navi Mumbai had arrived in Murshidabad to investigate a kidnapping case registered last November at Navi Mumbai Coastal Police Station.
The officers rescued the minor girl and arrested the accused named Azmal Hassan Sheikh alias Rubeil, a resident of Beldanga in Murshidabad.
On May 30, while the Mumbai Police team was waiting to board a train at Howrah station, the accused allegedly managed to flee from the station waiting hall, taking the rescued girl along with him, GRP sources said.
“The escape sparked an intensive search by the Howrah GRP. Teams combed railway platforms, station premises, bus stands and several parts of Calcutta. Acting on intelligence inputs that the duo could be heading towards Murshidabad, a GRP team went to the district and, with assistance from Hariharpara police, traced them on May 31,” said a senior official of the Howrah GRP.
The accused was arrested. The minor girl has been rescued.
Mumbai Police on Sunday produced the accused before the chief judicial magistrate’s court in Howrah seeking transit remand.
After completing the legal formalities, the team left for Mumbai with the accused, said a police officer.