By IANS,
Noida : A senior home ministry official’s daughter, kidnapped from this Delhi suburb late Sunday night, was found in Ghaziabad town in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh a few hours later, the police said.
Meenakshi Rawat(20), the daughter of Dalip Singh Rawat, a senior official in the home ministry, was kidnapped in a car by three people while returning home in Sector 22 of Noida with her mother and a neighbour from the nearby vegetable market late Sunday night.
According to Meenakshi’s mother Veena Rawat, the three were on their way back home when a white Santro car with tinted windowpanes stopped a few metres from them. While one person remained sitting inside, two others came out and dragged Meenakshi into the car and drove away.
In the scuffle, Meenakshi’s shawl and slippers were left behind on the road, Veena added.
Immediately, the girl’s parents informed the police, who registered a case of kidnapping at Sector 58 Police Station.
While the family nervously waited for the news about the girl, the police finally found her around 3.30 a.m. in Ghaziabad town.
Noida police chief Navin Arora said that Meenakshi was found near Bhopura in Ghaziabad after police on a lookout for the accused, chased the kidnappers’ car and alerted their Ghaziabad counterparts. Seeing the police checking, the assailants dumped Meenakshi near Bhopura under Sahibabad police station and fled.
Sources, however, said that Meenakshi was dropped near Mamura Chowk and she made a call to her parents from the phone number of a boy. The police, however, denied this.
Superintendent of Police (City) A.K. Tripathi told IANS that the girl told them that her kidnappers, initially three and later on joined by another man, slapped her and molested her.
“We have conducted a medical examination on the girl, the report of which would come on Tuesday. From her statements, we are getting come clues, showing that the assailants might be known to her,” he added. No arrests have been made yet.