Kidnapped 4-year-old girl to reunite with family after 2 yrs

Police said the couple — Mahesh Vasava (40) and Madhu (35) — revealed during their interrogation that Sonal was not their daughter and they had kept her with them after abducting her in 2010. “We arrested them in connection with a case of loot of Rs 1.25 lakh and murder. Further investigation revealed the kidnapping story,” said Rajkot Superintendent of Police Premvir Singh.

After the couple was caught,Mahesh reportedly requested police not to arrest him,saying if they were jailed,there would be nobody to take care of the girl. He told police that his parents live at Sarbhan village in Bharuch taluka,but they would not take her custody as she was not their child.

“The girl’s father has been identified as Kodabhai Raval,a farm labourer from Ankleshwar. The Vasava couple had kidnapped her when they were working there. Raval had registered a complaint of missing at that time,” Singh said,adding the girl’s custody would be given to the Ankleshwar police,who will find her parents’ whereabouts.

Police said the girl does not remember anything about her parents.

According to police,the couple had been working at the farm of one Bachu Padmani for the last two months and planned to kill his wife Jaya with the motive of loot. They decided to execute their plan last week after learning that Bachu was going out of station and Jaya would be alone at home.

Police said that on the night of February 22,the couple asked Jaya to allow them to take shelter at her house,saying they had to catch a bus to visit their village in the early hours of Thursday. Around 2 am,Mahesh allegedly hit Jaya on the head with a heavy instrument and decamped with cash and gold to the tune of Rs 1.25 lakh.

The murder came to light the next day when Bachu returned home,police said.

While the couple has been booked for murder and loot,a separate case of kidnapping would be registered against then in Ankleshwar.