Five-year-old girl kidnapped from Vakola rescued, six arrested

The arrested accused have been identified as Lawrence Fernandes, his wife Mangal Fernandes, her son Nitin, autorickshaw driver Latif Shaikh, agent Karan Maruti Sanas and BAMS doctor Brinda Chavan.

CCTV footage from the spot showed an autorickshaw stopping briefly near where the family slept after which the girl disappeared. Based on technical surveillance and inputs, police detained autorickshaw driver Lateef Shaikh from Kalina. During interrogation, he allegedly named Lawrence and Mangal as the persons behind the abduction.

Investigations revealed that Shaikh drove the child to Panvel, where she was handed over to Karan Sanas, who allegedly paid Rs 90,000 to Lawrence. “Lateef drove the autorickshaw to Panvel, where they handed over the girl to one Karan Sanas, who paid Rs 90,000 to Lawrence,” said senior inspector Prakash Khandekar of the Vakola police station.

Police said the kidnapping took place between 2 am and 3 am.

Karan, an agent, had earlier allegedly approached Lawrence claiming that an acquaintance who was childless was willing to pay for a child. Lawrence then agreed to kidnap his niece and allegedly sold her for Rs 90,000.

Karan was subsequently arrested and he named doctor Brinda Chavan during questioning. He told police that Chavan, who lives alone, wanted to adopt a daughter and had paid him Rs 6 lakh. However, Chavan told investigators that Karan had introduced the girl as his sister’s daughter, saying, “his sister was not able to take care of her and wanted her daughter to grow up in a good family,” a police officer said.

The child was traced to Panvel and safely rescued. Further investigation is underway.