Desire to have a son leads father of 4 daughters to kidnap 4-year-old boy

Kalyan: The desire to have a son and a ‘complete family’ led a father of four daughters to kidnap a four-year-old boy from the waiting room of Kalyan railway station. The accused, identified as Kacharu Waghmare, 35, a resident of Nashik, was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday, and the boy was reunited with his family within eight hours of the incident.

According to the Kalyan Government Railway Police (GRP), the boy, Atharva, lived with his parents, daily wage labourers, and a two-year-old sister near the Vithalwadi station area, however, as their hutment was demolished recently, the family would come to the waiting room of Kalyan railway station to take shelter.

Waghmare, also a daily wage labourer, used to visit his family in Kalyan some days of the week, a GRP official said, adding, “Atharva’s parents came to Kalyan waiting room to wash their clothes on Monday. They left the child in the waiting room and went out to buy soap. They asked the accused, who was also present in the waiting room along with his family, to look after their boy till they returned.”

However, the official added that when the couple returned they could not find their son and the accused’s family. They searched all over the station and finally approached the police.

M Dhage, GRP inspector, said, “The family came to us and told us about their missing child. A GRP team, including a crime unit, were formed to search for them. The Waghmare family wanted to catch a train for Nashik, but on Monday, they left the station, and in the morning, they returned to catch the train.”

“Our team was scrutinising all CCTV footage when we found a similar family at the station. Immediately, we laid a trap and found the boy. Kachru planned to kidnap a boy to complete their family. We have arrested Kacharu and reunited Atharva with his family,” he added.