Lucknow: A two-month-old infant abducted from UP’s Maharajganj for an alleged human sacrifice was rescued from Delhi’s Kashmere Gate bus stand on Saturday. UP Police arrested three people, including two women.The rescue and arrests came after a four-day, multi-state operation involving the analysis of over 1,000 CCTV clips, electronic surveillance, local intelligence, and extensive field investigation.The infant was abducted from his home in Rajabari Tola Ramjita village on early Nov 3. According to police, the accused were planning to sacrifice the child due to occult beliefs, hoping it would help locate their missing family members and ward off recurring misfortunes and untimely deaths.The arrested accused have been identified as Savitri (28), Saraswati (55), and Karan Kumar Gautam (22). Police said Karan, Savitri’s second husband, helped execute the kidnapping.On Nov 3, the infant’s father Govind lodged a police complaint stating that his son had gone missing while the family was asleep. He claimed that an unidentified person entered the house and took away the child.An FIR was registered and multiple teams comprising personnel from Thoothibari police station, the Special Operations Group (SOG), SWAT, surveillance unit, and dog squad were deployed.SP Maharajganj Shakti Mohan Avasthy said they got a breakthrough when CCTV footage captured a woman carrying an infant near Rajabari Bridge around 3.57am on Nov 3. Her movements were traced to Thoothibari bus stand. Investigators subsequently questioned local residents and transport workers.A bus driver informed police that a woman matching the description had boarded a bus around 5am, got off near Shikarpur crossing and proceeded towards Ghughli In Maharajganj. Further CCTV scrutiny, intelligence inputs, and local inquiries helped police identify the suspect as Savitri.When police reached her residence, she was found absconding. Technical inputs later traced the suspects’ movements to Delhi.A police team eventually located Savitri and Karan at Kashmere Gate bus stand in possession of a two-month-old infant. After they failed to explain the child’s identity, police shared photographs with Govind via WhatsApp, who immediately identified the baby as his missing son.Subsequent interrogation led to the arrest of Saraswati. Police said she believed that sacrificing a child, allegedly on the advice of a tantrik would help reunite her with her missing husband and son and end a series of family tragedies.
