Maharashtra: The Manmad police on Thursday arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly attempting to abduct a three-year-old girl from the Manmad rural hospital. The accused, identified as Jay Vairale from Akola district, was produced before a local court and remanded in 14-day judicial custody.
According to Inspector Vijay Kare of the Manmad police station, the incident occurred on Thursday afternoon. A woman had brought her nine-month-old son to the hospital for vaccination, accompanied by her three-year-old daughter. While the mother attended to her son, the daughter was playing nearby on the hospital premises, as reported by The Times of India.
Police said that Vairale picked up the child while she was alone, prompting the startled girl to cry out. Her screams immediately caught the attention of people in the area. Bystanders quickly intervened, stopped Vairale, and, upon realising his intentions, beat him up before handing him over to the police. The Manmad police stated that Vairale’s parents claimed he is mentally unstable.
He had reportedly been on medication for a mental health condition until a few years ago. The case is currently under investigation. Abductions remain a growing concern in the Nashik region. According to official police data, 331 cases of abduction were registered in Nashik city in 2024, of which 263 have been solved. In 2023, the city police recorded 295 abduction cases, successfully solving 288 of them, as reported.
In a separate kidnapping-related incident, a 20-year-old man allegedly abducted and raped a 16-year-old girl from Adivali in the Dombivli area of Thane during a train journey to Akola. Senior Police Inspector Pandhari Kande of the Government Railway Police (GRP), Kalyan, shared the details on Monday.
According to police, the incident occurred on June 30. The man took the girl on a train from Thane to Akola and raped her during the journey, as reported by PTI. Upon reaching Akola, his parents refused to let them into their house. He then left the girl alone at the Akola railway station and returned home.
Railway police at Akola found the girl, spoke to her, and registered a 'zero FIR,' which was later transferred to the Kalyan Government Railway Police (GRP).
