The Hindu : Front Page : Kidnapped Delhi infant rescued in Orissa

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Sunday, Feb 06, 2005

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Kidnapped Delhi infant rescued in Orissa

By Our Staff Reporter

— PTI

INTO TOY WORLD AGAIN: One-and-a-half-year-old Arpit Dewan, who was rescued from a kidnapper by the Delhi and Orissa police, is all smiles while accepting a toy at Rajgangpur police station in Orissa on Saturday.

NEW DELHI, FEB. 5. The ordeal of the Dewan couple, whose 18-month-old son, Arpit, was abducted by their maid from Srinivaspuri in south Delhi on Monday, ended today. The maid, who hid here for three days before fleeing to Orissa, was traced in Sundergarh and the boy rescued.

The maid, Savitri Minj, was taken in for questioning after the police spotted her loitering at the Rajganjpur village bus shelter in Sundergarh. Arpit was with her, his face hidden under a shawl. When the policemen saw the boy, they suspected that she had abducted him.

During interrogation, Savitri broke down and identified herself. She confessed to having abducted the boy of her employer, Arvind Dewan. Subsequently, the Orissa police contacted their Delhi counterparts. At a press conference here today, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (South Delhi), Pravir Ranjan, said that Savitri hailed from Gyanpali village in Sundergarh, which comes under Rourkela district, Orissa.

Along with six friends, she had fled to the Capital in July last year after she was scolded by her father. Here she was contacted by one Sunil, who runs the Khushbu Placement Agency in south Delhi. Through him, she got a job in Dwarka Sector VII where she worked for sometime.

After that she was employed by Choudhry Basant Singh, a resident of Hari Nagar, as a full-time domestic help. Savitri, who was apparently not in a stable mental state, quit the job within a fortnight without assigning any reason. She then contacted the Vinita Placement Agency and was recruited by the Dewans for 10 days. During interrogation by the Orissa police, she could not explain why she fled from Delhi but disclosed that she had collected Rs. 200 in coins and also some clothes.

After locking the house, she hired an auto-rickshaw to Old Delhi railway station. Unable to find a train to Orissa, she travelled on Delhi roads in different buses, hiding Arpit under her shawl. In the meantime, 40 police teams were formed to conduct raids, and photographs of Arpit were published in newspapers and telecast by the electronic media.

When a police team reached the labour camp, Savitri fled and again travelled in different buses before reaching the New Delhi railway station on February 3. She boarded the Neelanchal Express and reached Bhubaneswar the next day. From there, she boarded a bus to Rourkela and then another bus to Sundergarh, where she was arrested .

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