Delhi couple kidnaps infant after daughter asks for brother to tie ‘rakhi’

PTI, Aug 25, 2023, 7:58 PM IST

Representative image (source: iStock)

New Delhi: A couple was arrested for allegedly kidnapping a one-month-old boy after their daughter asked them for a brother to tie rakhi on the upcoming Raksha Bandhan festival, police said on Friday.

According to the police, the 17-year-old son of Sanjay Gupta (41) and Anita Gupta (36), residents of Raghubir Nagar in Tagore Garden, had died last year, they said.

On Thursday at 4.34 am, police got information regarding the kidnapping of an infant of a handicapped woman, The complainant couple, who lives on a footpath at Chhatta Rail Chowk, alleged that when they woke up around 3 am, they discovered that their child was missing and suspected that someone had kidnapped him, a senior police officer said.

During the investigation, police checked the CCTV cameras of the nearby area and saw two bike-borne people roaming in the area. They checked around 400 CCTV cameras and traced them up to LNJP Hospital, the officer said.

Thereafter, police analysed all the details and found that the alleged bike was registered in the name of Sanjay, the officer said.

The area was a cluster and crime-prone. Around 15 police personnel, along with woman staff, equipped with weapons cordoned off the area. They went to C-Block in Tagore Garden’s Raghubir Nagar where they found the accused couple and the kidnapped child, Deputy Commissioner of Police (north) Sagar Singh Kalsi said.

Sanjay and Anita disclosed that their teenage son died after falling off a terrace on August 17 last year and their 15-year-old daughter was asking for a brother to tie rakhi on the upcoming Raksha Bandhan, he said. So, they decided to kidnap a boy. The couple found this infant sleeping at some distance from his mother near Chhatta Rail Chowk and abducted him to take care of him as their son, Kalsi said.

Sanjay, a tattoo artist by profession, was previously involved in three criminal cases, police said, adding that Anita is a mehandi artist.

The infant’s mother is handicapped from both hands and legs and his father is a rag picker. They are homeless and live on a footpath, they said.