An infant, who was abducted by an unidentified woman from outside her Girgaon residence in South Mumbai, was rescued from Sangli district within 48 hours and her kidnapper was arrested, police said here today.
Acting on a tip off, the police raided accused Bhagyashree Patil's (32) hideout in interior Sangli last night and rescued nine-month-old girl Yasmeen Shaikh, Senior Inspector of V P Road police station, Suresh Kilje, said.
The accused was arrested and produced before a court today that remanded her to police custody till September 4, the police said.
According to the police, on the evening of August 29, Patil, who knew the baby's mother Salma Sheikh (19) for the past two months, took the infant out after taking permission from Salma.
When they did not return even after late evening, the family launched a search. Failing to locate them, Salma lodged a complaint with the police.
Investigators learnt that the accused took the baby girl to Solapur and then to Pune, Additional Police Commissioner Krishna Prakash said.
Later, Patil took the baby to interior Sangli, where she hid her, the police official said.
With the help of the Sangli police, the city police arrested the accused from her hideout and rescued the baby, he said.
The police is probing further to ascertain whether the accused is part of a cartel involved in kidnapping children and pushing them into prostitution, he said.
