14 November,2011 07:26 AM IST | | Vinay Dalvi
Over a week after MiD DAY reported about a toddler that was kidnapped during load shedding in SoBo, police found her body in a decomposed state near the Electricity Bhuvan at Nariman Point yesterday.
Tragic end: Jagriti Patel went missing on October 20
According to the police, the child has been identified as Jagriti Patel, the two-year-old daughter of a seafood supplier, who was reported missing from her Shiv Shastri Nagar residence in Cuffe Parade during a power outage in the area on October 20. ('Load-shedding leads to toddler's kidnapping in SoBo', November 5, MiD DAY)
It was around 5 pm yesterday that the Cuffe Parade police were informed of a foul stench near the fire brigade office at Electricity Bhuvan. Later, the locals found the body of a small girl at the spot. "The toddler only had a blue t-shirt on," said PSI Kishore Pawar of Cuffe Parade police station. The police took the body to St George Hospital for postmortem and informed the family of Ramesh Patel, who had earlier reported the incident. "The officials called me to the hospital to identify the body," said Patel. "Somebody either took benefit of the darkness and kidnapped my daughter Jagriti or she was lost in the darkness," Patel had told this paper earlier.
He had also said that he was a man of modest means and did not have any enmity with anyone, so there was no chance of anybody kidnapping Jagriti for ransom.
However, cops suspect that she was picked up for begging. "Patel has identified the body which was in a completely decomposed state," said a police officer.