Pune Crime: Dad foils kidnap bid on daughter, locals chase and nab culprit

Nimani Nyan Mirza, the kidnapper, in police custody

Pune: A Lohegoan resident has foiled a kidnap bid on his daughter. Uttam Dhulappa Wa­nkar (32), a resident of Gurudwara colony, raised an alarm on seeing a stranger fleeing with his daughter, following which his neighbours chased and nabbed the culprit.

The culprit, identified as Nimani Nyan Mirza (23), hails from Kachuothala in Malda district of West Bengal and he works at a nearby construction site. The incident took place on Sunday. Uttam said, "Our one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Trisha, was playing outdoors, while my wife and I were watching from the corridor. Around 8.30 pm, I heard Trisha scream. We rushed outside to see a man fleeing with her. I raised an alarm and my neighbours Sachin Lash­kare, Bindukumar Ojha and Gaurav Usmode started chasing the man. Mid-way, he threw Trisha on the road and tried to escape, but my neighbours managed to nab him. He had a knife on him and we alerted the cops."

Uttam has filed a case of kidnapping with Vimangar police station. Inspector Vilas Sonde said, "Initially, Mirza wasn't talking at all. Then, he started muttering in Bengali and admitted to having tried to kidnap the toddler. It's unclear why he did it, but he keeps saying that he doesn't know anything, so we have sought the help of a doctor to determine if he is mentally unstable. We are waiting for the test reports. In the meantime, we are also probing if he's involved in the kidnap of two other children from the same locality."
Mirza was produced in court on Monday and has been remanded in police custody for four days.