13 members of child-lifting gang arrested, 12 children rescued

Ranchi: The Ranchi senior superintendent of police (SSP), Rakesh Ranjan, on Sunday announced that the district police rescued 12 kidnapped children from an inter-state gang of child lifters and arrested 13 members from different parts of the state. Ranjan also said the rescued children are in the age group of four to 12 years. He added that police were still trying to trace the boy, Kanhaiya Kumar (12), who went missing from the Ormanjhi block of the district in Nov last year. The breakthrough came during the ongoing probe into the kidnapping case of two siblings, Ansh and Anshika, who were abducted from the Dhurwa area on Jan 2 and rescued from Ramgarh district on Jan 14 along with the arrest of a couple.Police said Ansh and Anshika were to be sold on January 7 or 8, but the buyer did not arrive due to the security steps being taken about the duo.SSP Ranjan said, “The couple, who had kidnapped Ansh and Anshika, revealed during interrogation that an organised gang was involved in kidnapping kids belonging to economically weaker sections of the society and using them in begging, pick-pocketing, trafficking, and flesh trade. The gang members had committed similar crimes in Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha.”The 12 children were rescued from Silli in Ranchi, Kothar in Ramgarh, and Bariyatu in Latehar between Jan 15 and 17. Among the, two boys were kidnapped from the Khagahdha bus stand in Ranchi two years ago, a girl from the Sambalpur railway station in Odisha three years ago, five girls from Bariatu in Latehar three years ago, two girls from Dhanbad three years ago, one girl from Lohardaga three years ago, and one girl from Jagarnathpur in Ranchi a year ago.Most were kidnapped at a very tender age and hence unable to narrate the crime committed against them or identify their parents. The district administration said it would provide all facilities to the rescued children till the identities of their parents were ascertained.Probe would continue as some of the kidnapped children were sold and are with the buyers in West Bengal and Aurangabad in Bihar, police added. The 13 arrested miscreants in the multiple operations were identified as Virodhi Kherwar and his wife Chandini Devi, Sanyasi Kherwar, Anthony Kherwar, and Malin Devi of Ramgarh, Pramod Kumar, Ashiq Gope and his wife Baby Devi of Ranchi, Raj Ravani, Sita Devi, Dinoo Bhuiyyan, Uppaiya Kherwar and his wife Sonia Devi of Latehar. Soni Kumari of Ramgarh and Nav Kherwar (Soni’s husband) of Purulia in West Bengal were arrested earlier in the Ansh and Anshika case.