A four-year-old girl kidnapped from Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) has been traced after six months to a children’s shelter home in Varanasi — all because she spoke Marathi. The child was rescued during ‘Operation Shodh’, an intensive search campaign launched by the Matka Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar Police. A Hindi journalist from Varanasi alerted the Mumbai Police that a Marathi-speaking child had been found in a local juvenile home. A police team rushed to Varanasi, verified her identity, and brought her back safely. However, the kidnapper is still untraceable.
According to the police, the child had travelled with her family from Solapur to Mumbai for treatment at St. George Hospital. On 20 May, she mysteriously went missing from the CSMT railway premises. A case of kidnapping was immediately registered at the Mata Ramabai Ambedkar Marg Police Station. Under the guidance of Zone 1 DCP Dr Pravin Mundhe and Senior Inspector Yogesh Sable of MRA Marg Police Station, an eight-member team was formed to investigate the case.
CCTV footage later revealed that the child had been abducted by an unknown man. Further investigation indicated that the suspect boarded a train from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus headed towards Uttar Pradesh. The search team travelled through Bhusawal, parts of Madhya Pradesh, and eventually Varanasi, where they stayed for ten days while attempting to trace the kidnapper. Despite their efforts, the accused remained elusive.
As part of ‘Operation Shodh’, conducted between 1 and 15 November, the team distributed the girl’s photographs to every police station in Varanasi and also circulated information through local newspapers. A local journalist then informed the police that a Marathi-speaking girl had recently been admitted to a juvenile home in the city.
A Mumbai Police team immediately visited the facility and confirmed that the child was the same girl kidnapped from CSMT. DCP Dr Pravin Mundhe said the girl was taken into custody and safely brought back to Mumbai, where she has been reunited with her family. The search for the kidnapper is ongoing.