10 July,2014 08:05 AM IST | | Saurabh Vaktania
Having come to Mumbai and failed in his search for employment, the man had launched a desperate bid to kidnap a child from the “rich areas of the city” and had even procured four factory-made pistols
A man's plot to kidnap a child to extract ransom money from his parents and pay for his mother's medical bills was foiled on Tuesday. Unit IX of the Crime Branch managed to throw cold water on his plans after they received a tip-off from an informer and arrested him and his accomplice before they could go ahead with their act.
Sherkhan Bismillah Khan and Shahid Jaffer Khan have been charged under the Arms Act. They had been roaming around Bandra-Khar schools, looking for potential victims
According to the police, the accused were identified as Sherkhan Bismillah Khan (24), a resident of Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh and Shahid Jaffer Khan alias Pappu Khan (21), a native of Gadwa from the same state. Police sources said Sherkhan's mother has cancer and is in a very critical condition.
He had come to Mumbai in search of a job three months ago, but didn't succeed in getting one. While wandering, he met a criminal, who advised him to kidnap a child from the Bandra-Khar area, as "rich people stayed there who would readily give away huge ransom amounts without even informing the police."
Looking for victims
Acting on this suggestion, Sherkhan convinced a friend to join him in the quest to abduct a child who went to school in and around Bandra and Khar. They started doing the rounds of schools there in the last week. The duo even procured four factory-made pistols and seven live rounds.
Police Inspector Mahesh Desai and Assistant Police Inspector Ashok Sawant got a tip-off that the two accused had been roaming suspiciously in the area and were going to meet someone in Khar. Accordingly, the two cops laid a trap for the accused at Khar Danda Koliwada and arrested them on Tuesday. Desai also told mid-day that both the âkidnappers' had criminal cases registered against them in UP.
Senior Police Inspector Sanjay Satardekar of Unit IX, Crime Branch, said, "We have arrested Sherkhan Bismillah Khan and Shahid Jaffer Khan. Both have been charged under the Arms Act." The duo was produced in court yesterday and remanded to police custody. Police are investigating where the weapons were procured from.
