Kidnapped from Amravati, 4-year-old boy rescued by cops from Ahmednagar slum

Acting swiftly, Amravati Police rescued a 4-year-old youngster by nabbing the abductors inside 24 hours at Ahmednagar, a whole bunch of kilometres away, on Friday. Police suspect the kidnapping was the handiwork of a member of the family, the boy’s paternal step-grandmother.
Four-year-old Anay Ankit Lunia, a resident of Sharda Nagar, was kidnapped by two motorbike-borne individuals from the locality round 8 pm on Thursday when he was taken for a stroll by his step-grandmother Monica Jaswantrai Lunia (47).
“CCTV footage from the place showed the boy being very comfortable with the kidnappers and Monica unruffled by the event. The boy’s two cousins, who are part of the joint Lunia family, realised that something was amiss and one of them did raise an alarm. But the kidnappers fled,” mentioned Amravati Police Commissioner Arti Singh, who led the investigation.
“We suspected that it could be the handiwork of some family member since the boy didn’t raise any alarm. The family members had no doubts about anyone, either from the family or outside… We then asked all the family members to hand over their mobile phones and found that Monica, who is Ankit’s step-grandmother, was engaged in long conversations with one Hina Shakir Sheikh alias Hina Aniket Deshpande on the day of kidnapping. Monica, who also hails from Ahmednagar, said Hina was her friend. So, we immediately tracked her mobile location and found it to be in Ahmednagar. We alerted Ahmednagar Superintendent of Police Manoj Patil, who pressed his men into action, leading to Hina’s detention on Friday evening,” mentioned Singh.
A staff of Amravati Police additionally reached Ahmednagar. Hina instructed the police that the boy was with one Asif Sheikh, who was hiding in an Ahmednagar slum. “Our men managed to quickly zero in on Asif and free Anay. All this was done in the nick of time as Asif was about to run away to Mumbai along with the boy,” mentioned Singh.
Monica hasn’t but confessed to her involvement within the crime, mentioned the police officer.
“Monica is the stepmother of Anay’s father and would ask for money from the family to send it to her parents in Ahmednagar, who are poor… Monica was born a Muslim but was raised by a Hindu family in Ahmednagar, to whom she used to send the money,” Singh additional mentioned.
But of late, the household had minimize down on the cash, which had prompted Monica to give you a plan to have Anay kidnapped for ransom, which was to be equally divided amongst everybody concerned within the crime, mentioned police.
Hina, who’s married to a Hindu, would usually go to the Lunias and therefore the boy was acquainted together with her, mentioned police. She had come to Amravati two days earlier, together with two others, Almash Sheikh, 18, and Musahib Sheikh, 21. Accompanied by Almash, she had allegedly taken the boy away from Sharda Nagar. The two then left the bike close to a personal bus stand, from the place they travelled to Ahmednagar in a automotive, mentioned police.
“The kidnappers were planning to seek a ransom of Rs 4 crore but didn’t make any call for the same till they were apprehended,” mentioned Singh.
Later, it was revealed that the entire plan was hatched underneath the steering of a legal from Ahmednagar, Israr Sheikh Mukhtar Sheikh alias Taklu. “Taklu has 19 different crimes, including kidnapping, registered against his name and is currently absconding. We are tracing his whereabouts,” mentioned Singh.

The police have arrested six individuals up to now, together with Hina and Monica.
Lunias are a joint household and run a number of companies together with a bicycle store and manufacturing fruit pulp.