Kathmandu, 15 September (H.S.): A 15-month-old boy who went missing from Tinkauriya in the Videha Municipality area of Nepal’s Dhanusha district has been safely recovered by police after 11 days. A woman has been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping the child.

According to the Dhanusha District Police Office, 15-month-old Siddhant Mahato, son of Kamlesh Mahato, went missing on September 3 at around 4:40 p.m. while playing in the courtyard of his home. Following the report, a police team from the Giddha Police Post was dispatched to the spot. A team of 60 police personnel, led by Superintendent of Police Rupesh Khadka, was deployed to search for the child. Search operations were also conducted at the scene and in surrounding areas with the assistance of trained sniffer dogs.

During the investigation, police found that around 41-year-old Punita Devi Paswan, a resident of Kamala Municipality, had allegedly abducted the child. The preliminary investigation revealed that the accused woman had allegedly taken the child to different locations and kept him hidden in various areas of Nepal and India. Police intensified the search through technical surveillance and increased round-the-clock monitoring at all border points in Dhanusha.

Following the police operation and tightening of the search perimeter, the woman allegedly left the child by the roadside around 300 metres south of her residence at approximately 3:35 p.m. on September 14 and fled the spot. Police immediately recovered the child, arranged for a medical examination and handed him over to his family. The child’s condition was reported to be normal.

The accused, Punita Devi Paswan, was arrested by police at around 3:45 p.m. the same day while allegedly attempting to flee towards India from the Dashgaja border area at Mainathpur.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar