Navsari and Surat police rescue 14-year-old girl abducted for 1 cr ransom

Surat: Navsari police and the technical team from the Surat range, law enforcement in a joint operation rescued a 14-year-old girl who had reportedly been abducted by a man she encountered on social media.

The incident occurred on the Delhi-UP highway. The kidnappers, led by the primary suspect Samir Pathan, had demanded a ransom of Rs 1 crore from the girl’s father, who operates a car washing center in Gandevi, Navsari. Pathan was apprehended late Saturday night on the Delhi-UP highway with the assistance of the UP police.

Navsari local crime branch police inspector Dipak Korat said, “A complaint was filed two days ago regarding the abduction of a 14-year-old girl. The abductors contacted her father via WhatsApp, demanding a ransom of Rs 1 crore. Given the sensitivity of the case, we formed three teams, with two deployed in the field and one being a technical team. Utilizing both human and technical intelligence, we tracked the abductors to Delhi.” When the police found out that they were trying to reach Lucknow from Delhi the cops pursued and apprehended them, along with the girl, from a bus.

Navsari SP Sushil Agrawal disclosed that the perpetrator had established contact with the minor through social media a few months earlier. Recently, Pathan traveled to Gandevi to meet the girl, Later taking Sarvoday Express to reach Uttar Pradesh. Agrawal mentioned, “Pathan, along with three others, journeyed to Gandevi to meet her. We intervened and rescued the girl from the UP highway as the suspects were purportedly taking her to Lucknow, Pathan’s hometown.”