Mumbai Government Railway Police arrested a 22-year-old woman within 24 hours after a one-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped from the main concourse of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and recovered the child unharmed, police said. The accused, identified as Pooja Shinde, was allegedly using the baby for begging.
The child had been sleeping with her parents at the terminus while the family waited for a train to Dharashiv. The parents, who work as labourers, had reached CSMT at about 7pm on October 15 and later returned to the main concourse after going out for dinner. Their train, the Latur Express, was scheduled to depart from platforms 12 and 13.
The family settled near a steel bench and decided to sleep while waiting. The child’s mother told police that she remembered feeding her daughter at about 4am before going back to sleep. Around 5.25am, railway police personnel entered the concourse, blowing whistles and asking passengers to wake up. The parents then realised that the child was missing and sought help from the police.
Police took the couple to the terminus CCTV room, where footage allegedly showed a young woman carrying the baby away. According to the report, the woman was wearing an old salwar and had covered her head with a red dupatta. The CSMT GRP registered a kidnapping case and formed joint teams with the GRP crime branch to trace her movements through CCTV footage from different railway stations.
The investigation was conducted under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police Pradnya Jedge, along with senior inspectors Sambhaji Katare and Anil Kadam. Police said CCTV footage later showed Shinde carrying the child and begging. Investigators also alleged that she had cut the child’s hair to alter her appearance.
The girl was reunited with her parents and police said she was unharmed. A railway court remanded Shinde in police custody. She has been booked under Section 139(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which criminalises kidnapping a minor or acquiring custody of a child without being the lawful guardian with the intention of using the child for begging.
Police also said Shinde had a prior criminal record relating to theft and had previously been booked by Sion Police along with her husband. The case remains with the GRP, which is investigating the alleged kidnapping and the circumstances in which the child was taken from the busy railway terminus.
