Mumbai: Lifeguard arrested for `kidnapping’ missing medical student

PTI, Jan 14, 2023, 1:19 PM IST

A32-year-old lifeguard has been arrested here for allegedly kidnapping an MBBS student from a city college who has been missing since November 2021, Mumbai Police said on Saturday.

Sadichha Sane (22), a third-year student of Sir JJ Hospital and Grant Medical College, had been allegedly last seen with the accused. She is yet to be traced.

The accused was detained by the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police on Thursday night from suburban Bandra and arrested on Friday after questioning, the official said.

A court sent him in police custody till January 21.

Nagpada Police had conducted narco-analysis and brain-mapping tests on him in August last year, but the reports were inconclusive, the official said.

In November 2021, Sane boarded a train at 9.58 am from Virar station and got off at Andheri as she was to appear for her prelim examinations at 2 pm. Then she boarded another train and alighted at Bandra from where she took an auto rickshaw to Bandra Bandstand, a seaside spot.

Her mobile phone location history indicated that she kept on roaming around in the area that afternoon. As per the accused’s account, he was on duty as beach lifeguard at Bandra Bandstand that day. On spotting her alone, he suspected that she might attempt suicide and approached her.

She told him that she was not there to end her life. The two then sat on a rock and began to chat. During this nearly three-hour period, he also clicked four selfies with her, the police official said.

When news broke that a woman matching her description had gone missing, he did not report his encounter with her to police, the official said.

Only when police zeroed in on him, he admitted that he had run into her and chatted with her.

He has been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 363 (kidnapping) and 364 (E) (kidnapping for ransom) and further investigation is underway, the official added.