A 17-year-old girl from Mumbai allegedly fell victim to an Instagram friendship, leading to her kidnapping and forced marriage in Bihar, police said. The incident came to light in the Aarey area, where the Mumbai Police rescued the minor and arrested the accused.
According to police, a woman residing within the jurisdiction of Aarey Police Station lodged a complaint stating that her 17-year-old daughter had left home around 2 am on April 20, 2026, and never returned. The girl had informed her family that she was going to submit books at her BMC school. However, when she did not return for several hours, her family searched for her in the locality but failed to trace her.
Following the complaint, Aarey police registered a kidnapping case under the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and launched an investigation. Police Sub-Inspector Sachin Pachhal and his team began probing the case using CCTV footage, mobile phone location tracking and call detail records.
During the investigation, police traced the girl’s mobile phone location to Delhi. Acting swiftly, an Aarey police team rushed to Delhi and, with the assistance of Delhi Police, traced a suspect working at a grocery shop.
During questioning, the accused revealed that he was a resident of Samastipur district in Bihar. Police later learned that the accused had taken the minor girl to Bihar. Acting on the information, the police team conducted a raid in Samastipur, rescued the girl safely and detained the accused.
The arrested Accused has been identified as Paswan (23). He was brought to Mumbai on transit remand and later produced before a court, which remanded him to police custody. Further investigation is underway.