(Above): Menaka Dey and Priyanka, who the former says she raised as her own child. (Below): Priyanka’s parents, Biplab and Krishna. Pictures by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Nine years after she was taken away, 11-year-old Priyanka Dey met her parents at Sonarpur police station, on the southern fringes of the city, on Monday.

Priyanka — the eldest daughter of Biplab Dey, of Surya Sen Nagar, Khardah — was loitering with Menaka Dey at Sonarpur railway station on Sunday, when her aunt Rina Mitra recognised Menaka, who is also the stepmother of Priyanka’s father.

When confronted by the suspicious aunt, Menaka broke down and admitted that in 1998, she had taken away the infant to Sonarpur, where she rented a room.

The aunt took the child and Menaka to Sonarpur police station on Sunday to lodge a complaint. She also contacted Biplab and his wife Krishna over the phone.

On Monday, Priyanka and Menaka were sent to Khardah police station under escort and the child’s parents accompanied them. Priyanka, who has not seen her parents for nine years, however, said she wanted to stay with Menaka.

“Both the child and Menaka will be produced in Barasat court on Tuesday and the child will be handed over to her parents, once the proceedings are over,” said S. Gharai, officer-in-charge, Khardah police station.

“I lodged two missing diaries with Khardah police station. And I frantically kept searching for my daughter ever since she went missing. It’s like waking up to a dream,” said Biplab, Priyanka’s father.

Menaka, however, denied the charges of kidnapping. She said she had raised the child as her own, since she did not have one. “I was always careful that Priyanka never felt neglected. I had no intention of harming her,” she sobbed.

She had admitted Priyanka to a school in Sonarpur, where she is now in Class VI.

“After the birth of their second daughter, Biplab and Krishna were neglecting Priyanka. I couldn’t tolerate that. As my husband had already expired, I decided to leave Khardah for good, and took the child with me,” Menaka told the police at Sonarpur.