Mumbai Government Railway Police arrested a 22-year-old woman within 24 hours after a one-year-old girl was allegedly taken from the main concourse of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and used for begging, police said. The child was recovered unharmed and reunited with her parents.
The girl had been sleeping with her parents near a steel bench in the main concourse while the family waited to board the Latur Express to Dharashiv. The parents, who work as labourers, had reached CSMT at about 7pm and briefly left the terminus for dinner before returning later in the night.
According to the report, the child’s mother told police that she remembered feeding her daughter at about 4am before going back to sleep. At around 5.25am, railway police entered the concourse, blowing whistles and asking passengers to wake up. The parents then noticed that the child was missing and approached the police for help.
The CSMT GRP took the couple to its CCTV room, where footage showed a woman carrying the child away from the terminus. Police said the suspect was wearing an old salwar and had covered her head with a red dupatta. A kidnapping case was registered after the footage was reviewed.
Joint teams from CSMT GRP and the railway police crime branch then examined CCTV recordings from multiple railway stations. The teams operated under the supervision of DCP Pradnya Jedge, CSMT GRP senior inspector Sambhaji Katare and senior inspector Anil Kadam, according to the report.
Police later identified and arrested the suspect as Pooja Shinde. CCTV footage allegedly showed her carrying the child and begging. Investigators also found that the child’s hair had been cut, which police said was intended to alter her appearance. The girl was found unharmed.
Shinde was booked under Section 139(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The provision criminalises kidnapping a minor, or acquiring custody of a child without being the lawful guardian, with the intention of using the child for begging. A railway court remanded her to police custody.
Police also said Shinde had a previous criminal record involving theft and had earlier been booked by Sion Police along with her husband. The investigation will continue under the custody remand ordered by the railway court.
