Bhubaneswar: The Commissionerate Police have rescued the 2-year-old boy, stolen from the arms of his visually-impaired mother near Ram Mandir late on Saturday, from a house in Khantapada area of Balasore district.
The kidnapper, Kedarsan Panda of Gangadharpur, was later apprehended from Puri.
This came hours after Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Meena on Monday informed about multiple teams working on the case to trace the missing baby. It was suspected that the child was kidnapped for organ trafficking.
Police cracked the case within 48 hours and traced the toddler after examining CCTV cameras at various railway stations and collecting clues from various sources. Assistance of Railway Protection Force, West Bengal, Bharak and Balasore Police was taken and simultaneously, raids were conducted at different places.
The accused, who had pre-planned the kidnapping, was also caught on a camera near the temple carrying the baby towards Raj Mahal. He then boarded a train from Bhubaneswar railway station for Balasore. On reaching Balasore station, he met one Jhelam Rani Panda to whom he handed over the child.
Kedarsan previously worked in Bengaluru as a delivery boy for restaurant aggregator and food delivery companies. He came in touch with Jhelam, whose husband worked as a security guard there, about a month back and met her when he returned to Odisha.
Jhelam has two daughters and a son. Her son is reportedly suffering from serious illness. She sought Kedarsan’s help to adopt a male child. “She claimed during interrogation that she wanted to adopt an orphan child as she believed that due to the noble work and blessings, her son would get cured. Her claim is under verification and her role in the case is under investigation,” a police officer said.
The incident took place at around 1.30 am when 25-year-old Jayanti Mallick, who stayed with her son and a five-year-old daughter at Kanya Ashram in Niladri Vihar, was at Ram Mandir, where she along with her children sought alms from people every day. Since it was raining, she was unable to leave for the ashram and decided to spend the night on the pavement near the temple. Soon, an unidentified man approached the family, offered fruit juice, and handed his mobile phone to the baby to play with. The woman said she returned to sleep, only to discover later that her baby was missing.
Jayanti has expressed her gratitude to police for rescuing her baby boy.