In a bizarre case, a man accused of abducting and marrying a minor girl has been arrested after one-and-a-half decades from Janta Road in Saharanpur, police said on Friday.
The accused, identified as Sandeep, had abducted a minor and married her, following which the girl’s family had filed a complaint against Sandeep at the Dehat Kotwali police station.
Superintendent of Police (City) Abhimanyu Manglik said, "Sandeep abducted Pinky, who was then a minor, in 2007 and married her. The couple fled to Tehri in Uttarakhand where they lived under a different name. They returned to Saharanpur after eight years and started living here with their two daughters in a rented flat. Sandeep changed his name to Mukesh and Pinky to Sangeeta. Sandeep used to work as a mason. Sandeep was arrested on Thursday under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act."
Manglik further said, "After police failed to trace the couple, a bounty of Rs 5,000 was announced for anyone telling the whereabouts of Sandeep, and it was gradually increased to Rs 25,000."
Ramdhan, a resident of Ferozepur village, had accused Maniram's son Sandeep of the village of having lured his 15-year-old daughter Pinky. The police registered a case and started an investigation into the matter. However, police failed to trace the couple. The couple fled to Uttarakhand and started living there under different names with their two daughters 13 and nine years of age.
Meanwhile in a separate case, a 24-year-old man who used to dupe people on the pretext of offering help and swapping victims' ATM cards to withdraw money, was caught by a mob and thrashed in Deoria. The accused was later handed over to the police where 42 ATM cards of different banks were recovered from his possession.
Reportedly, the accused, on the pretext of helping people, used to manipulate them to know their passwords. He later used to withdraw money from the victims' accounts. The accused, identified as Hardev Prasad of Gorakhpur, was caught when he tried to run away with the ATM card of an elderly man.
Ramanand (60), a resident of Baruipur, had reached Sonughat intersection to withdraw money from HDFC's ATM on Thursday.
The accused reached the spot while Ramanand was trying to withdraw money by inserting his ATM card. He then tricked the elderly man by dropping his own ATM card. Believing him, when Ramanand bent down to pick up the card, the accused took out Ramanand's ATM card and tried to flee the spot by boarding a bus. Seeing this, Ramanand raised the alarm and a mob gathered at the spot and surrounded the bus and took the thief down and thrashed him.
Following this, police were informed and the accused was handed over to the cops.