Nine years later, photo album helps parents find their kidnapped child

Four months ago, a woman while visiting her relatives in Delhi's Krishna Nagar area recognised a familiar face when she was looking at a photo album. Among dozens of random photos of a marriage function, that was held in the area, the woman recognised face of her 10-year-old son who had been kidnapped almost nine years ago from a city hospital.

For the next three months the woman and her husband attempted to find the whereabouts of the 10-year-old whom they suspected to be their son. Eventually after failing to find their son, the couple approached local police and after weeks of investigation, cops were able to find the boy on August 22.

The boy, whose name is to be with held, had been studying in a Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) school, and it was here that police were able to ascertain that he was the same boy who was kidnapped in 2007.

According to the Delhi Police, the minor child was only one year and six months old when he was kidnapped from Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital in the year 2007. His father, Afshar, had then filed a complaint, however, police were unable to locate the child. fast forward to May 2016, the photo album helped the parents to ascertain that their boy was still in Delhi and after months of failing to find their son, the parents were one day informed that a couple were seen along with with a 10-year-old. Instead of confronting the 'fake parents', the couple had approached the police and local cops immediately began with their investigation.

"It came to the knowledge of the police staff that a couple who was staying in Shanti Mohalla, Old Jehangirpuri had a 10-year-old child with them. They were staying on rent in the area and had recently vacated the house. On the receipt of this information, sources were deployed and a watch was also kept on the schools in the locality since it was presumed that the child might be studying in a primary school. A search was made in the school to find out the missing child. The father of the victim also joined the search and initially a child who resembled the kidnapped child was traced to a MCD School," said Rishi Pal Singh, deputy commissioner of police, east Delhi.

The officer added that the 'parents' of the child were located and interrogated. "During the interrogation they stated giving vague replies. Initially, they stated that the child was their biological child. However, enquiries made in the neighborhood revealed that the child was brought suddenly a few years back. The couple had told the neighborhood that the delivery of the woman had taken place earlier in their ancestral village and the child had stayed with his grand parents since then. During sustained interrogation the coupled confessed that they are not the biological parents of the child. Further, they confessed that they had kidnapped the child from Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital," said Singh.

Human trafficking angle being looked into: Police

According to police, the 'fake parents', identified as Mohamad Salim and Nargis, were childless and had jumped on the opportunity to kidnap the child after seeing him sitting alone on a hospital bench. Officials added that their role regarding human trafficking angle and other involvements of the couple in child kidnappings are being looked into.