Missing Dhurwa kids rescued from Ramgarh after 12 day search, couple arrested

Ranchi: Twelve days after they went missing, the minor siblings from Dhurwa were rescued from Ramgarh in a special police operation on Wednesday morning. A vendor couple was arrested on charges of abduction as police personnel said they are peeling off the layers of an interstate human trafficking network which was behind the kidnapping.Ansh and Anshika, aged five and four years respectively, went missing from Mausi Badi Khatal area of Dhurwa on Jan 2. What followed next was a hunt which spanned 12 states before a special team from City police and their counterparts in Ramgarh raided a house in Chitarpur and rescued the siblings.Soni Kumar (20) and her husband Nav Kherwar (24), who go door-to-door selling various products, were arrested. Ansh and Anshika were produced before the child welfare committee later in the day.While the police remained tight-lipped on the case, sources said a few youngsters in Chitarpur first spotted the kids and alerted the police, following which a raid was launched on Wednesday.The siblings were presented before the media at Police Headquarters around 1 pm. DGP Tadasha Mishra said police personnel involved in the operation will be recommended for rewards. “Our boys worked tirelessly day and night to crack the case against several odds,” she said.The police, however, did not reveal the details about the case. “The case is related to interstate trafficking, and the investigation is still underway. We are expecting to uncover more details about other cases by questioning the couple,” Manoj Kaushik, ADG (CID), said.The hunt for the missing kids, who mysteriously disappeared while out to buy chocolates, saw probe teams being dispatched to 12 states including Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Maharashtra. Child rights groups were also roped in to expand the probe’s outreach.“A total of 48 police officers were put under different teams. The search was carried out on all aspects, and 500 CCTV footages were analysed. More than 5,000 vehicles were verified and their involvement in this incident was investigated,” a police statement read. A reward of Rs 50,000 was announced for anyone who tipped off about the whereabouts of the kids. Later, a ‘Hue & Cry’ call was raised, seeking help across the country, and the reward was increased to Rs 2 lakh for each kid.Congratulating the police on rescuing the kids, CM Hemant Soren wrote on X, “Only those who suffer can feel the boundless joy of this moment. Heartfelt congratulations again to the Jharkhand Police team for this splendid success. DC Ranchi, please also inform and connect Ansh and Anshika's family to all necessary govt schemes.”In another tweet, Soren said the abduction and the delay in rescue had caused him distress. “How can someone stoop so low? Personally, the last few days have been quite distressing for me. Initially, there was no success, but the way the Ranchi Police connected the threads of a similar incident in another state and reached the criminals to secure the children's release is commendable. We will make efforts to break the criminal gangs after conducting a thorough investigation into such crimes,” he wrote.Congratulating the parents of Ansh and Anshika, former state BJP president Babulal Marandi claimed they were rescued to Bajrang Dal workers. “There is no doubt that the police worked hard for 12 days and as its result, the news spread across Jharkhand. But it was due to the courage of three youths of Bajrang Dal in Chitarpur that these children were recovered. Even before police rescued them, these youths had recovered the kids and posted their pictures on social media and alerted the police. Police only went to bring them back. More than patting their own backs, police should have also hailed the courage these youth who helped them," the leader of opposition claimed.