Tension gripped Naugaon town and its nearby areas in Uttarkashi district after a nine- year-old girl who had gone missing on Thursday was rescued from the residence of a scrap dealer on Friday. Police said that the little girl had gone missing when she left her residence to purchase gram flour on Thursday afternoon. As she had not returned home her family members had started a search for her along with neighbours. The local police upon being informed had also swung into action to trace the missing girl. The following day some people had heard a faint cry of a kid coming from a locked room of a scrap collector. The door was broken open and the child rescued. She had marks on her neck, police said, adding that she had later narrated how she was forced into the room by two persons. The story as recounted by the girl left the people of the little hill town enraged. They erupted in anger and set two bikes and a car parked on the road aflame. The members of the local traders’ body said that those involved in the crime were outsiders. They accused the police of not undertaking verification of the outsiders settling in the area.
Things remaining tense, the police deployed additional forces requisitioned from nearby areas to prevent things from turning worse. The district magistrate (DM) Uttarkashi Aashish Chauhan, who visited Naugaon, said that both the accused Mohammad Anas and his accomplice Kala were arrested by the police in connection with the incident on Friday. He further said that the law and order situation in the area was normal and things were well under control. He said that a police verification drive of the outsiders aside from those scrap dealers, labourers and those living on the rent would be soon be launched across the district. He further said that the accused might have abducted the girl for sexual assault. However, as the shop was located right in the market area, they did not dare to force themselves, he said.
Recounting her ordeal, Anchal said that two persons had approached her when she was going to purchase gram flour and asked her to carry their luggage.
According to her, they warned her of dire consequences if she shouted. They had dragged her into a room where scraps were kept, she said. The duo had wrapped her neck with a mobile charger wire and a string to stop her cry from being heard, she said.
Her relations said that she had been kept in captivity for close to 20 hours before police and the locals rescued her.