Abducted girl rescued within 24 hrs - Police win praise from chief minister, netizens

Adishri Dutta with Guwahati police commissioner Mukesh Agrawal (left) and  deputy commissioner (operations) Rajen Singh at Basistha police station in Guwahati

Pankaj Sarma, TT, Guwahati, Aug. 26: City police have rescued seven-year-old Adishri Dutta within 24 hours of her abduction, earning praise from all quarters.

Outgoing city police commissioner Mukesh Agrawal said the girl was rescued from Khudra Bamunbari village (98km from Guwahati) under Sarthebari police station in Barpeta district in lower Assam around 2am today.

Six persons, including prime accused Rumi Das and her paramour Nirmal Kalita, have been arrested. The others are Anwar Hussain, Danish Ali, Lukman Ali and Tinku Ali. Danish is a member of Bamunbari panchayat in Nalbari district while Lukman is an assistant teacher at Lachima High Madrassa School, also in Nalbari.

According to the police, the abductors had planned to hand over the girl to NDFB (Songbijit) militants who would have demanded Rs 1 crore from her parents and, after collecting the ransom, would have given them their share.

In the meantime, they had held the girl captive in Anwar's house in Khudra Bamunbari. When the police entered the house, they found her sleeping on a mat on the floor. Police suspect Danish and Nirmal masterminded the abduction.

City police were assisted by Barpeta police in the rescue operation, which was supervised by Agrawal along with DCP (crime) Louis Aind and DCP (operations) Rajen Singh.

"It (rescuing the girl) was a prestige issue for us. We all, the crime branch and the operations unit of city police, worked as a team and I am happy that we have been able to safely rescue her," Agrawal said, adding that the girl and her kidnappers were located with the help of "technical surveillance".

Another police officer said they tracked the location of the cell phone used by Rumi.

Adishri, a Class II student of Delhi Public School, was abducted by her maid Rumi from her house at Indraprastha Apartment in Jayanagar under Basistha police station around 12.30pm yesterday. Her parents, both doctors, were not at home at that time. Adishri's mother, Aminakshi, is a gynaecologist at Pratiksha Hospital while her father, Diganta, is a senior consultant (radiology) at GNRC Hospitals.

Preliminary interrogation of the accused has revealed that Rumi took Adishri out with the promise of an ice cream and a surprise. "Nirmal was waiting in a cab near North Eastern Regional Institute of Management and they took her to Danish's house in Mukalmua in Nalbari district. They shifted her to Anwar's house around 8pm," a police source said.

The police are trying to track down the cab driver, who is also suspected to be involved in the abduction.

The police said Anwar is Danish's brother-in-law. Anwar and Lukman are residents of Khudra Bamunbari in Barpeta district while Danish, Tinku and Nirmal are all residents of Nalbari district. Danish lives in Bamunbari village in Mukalmua, Tinku hails from Belsor and Nirmal from Barama. Rumi's parental home is at Hajo in Kamrup district. She was married to one Suresh Das of Bhadra Kuchi in Tihu in Nalbari district. She separated from her husband around three years ago, after which she had an affair with Nirmal. Both were planning to marry soon.

All the six accused were produced before the court this evening and remanded in five-day police custody.

Adishri's parents heaped praise on city police for taking prompt action and rescuing their daughter.

"What happened to us yesterday should not happen to any parent. Thank God and the police that our daughter was rescued unharmed," her father said.

The public, particularly the medical fraternity, also praised the police for taking prompt action.

Navanil Baruah, director of neurosurgery, GNRC Hospitals, said in a WhatsApp message: "As a mark of gratitude and also to celebrate the return of the kidnapped child of our colleague, the management of GNRC in principle agreed to my suggestion of free consultation facilities to all Assam police personnel across all campuses of GNRC Hospitals."

Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal also congratulated the police on their successful rescue operation.

Adishri celebrated her return home with sweets bought by her parents. " O mithai anisu(yes, got sweets)," the chubby little girl, dressed in a frock and holding chocolate in her hands, told media persons this morning.

She said she was fine and her abductors did not cause her any harm. She said they treated her well and gave her food last night.

Asked by her parents to thank everyone, she said, "Thank you all."

Netizens at large had posted, re-posted and shared her pictures on Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media sites last evening, responding to an appeal by police to immediately inform them if they see the girl anywhere. Local TV channels had also beamed pictures of the girl being taken away by Rumi, which were captured by a CCTV camera in the apartment.

This morning, Adishri's mother, who held her close, almost apologised for not verifying the antecedents of their maid with the local police. "It is a lesson not only for us but for everybody. Though I am a working mother, maybe I should not have left her alone with the maid," she said.

In the wake of the incident, city police have reiterated their appeal to citizens to verify the antecedents of their domestic workers before hiring them and to collect their full address and photograph, which would help to track them down if they flee after committing a crime.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SUNIL DAS IN BARPETA