Horror in Kandivli: 4-year-old killed in Kandivli; suspect known to family on the run

Representation pic

A toddler, kidnapped while sleeping, was murdered and his body was dumped nearby, in the early hours of Saturday in Iraniwadi, Kandivli West. The suspect, who was known to the victim's family, is absconding.

CCTV footage from nearby buildings showed the suspect arriving on a bicycle, taking the child away and returning on foot carrying him on the shoulder as if asleep. Around 3.40 am, he left the child's body near a barricade on the side of an under-construction road and walks away. The child's family recognised the suspect from the footage, but found he had fled after switching off his mobile phone. The police have detained his acquaintances for questioning, said an officer.

The child, Ansh, who lived in Nalasopara with his mother Soni and stepfather Akbar Ansari, both of whom worked in catering services. Ansh's biological father had passed away a few years ago. Five days earlier, Ansh had come to stay with his grandmother, Leena, who works as a sweeper and lives on the footpath at Iraniwadi. On the night of the incident, Ansh was sleeping beside his grandmother, while his mother and stepfather were sleeping a few metres away.

Around 4 am, Ansh's grandmother woke up, saw he was missing and alerted the family. They soon found Ansh unconscious and injured, lying near a barricade on the under-construction road, about 30 metres away. The family rushed him to Shatabdi Hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead. An FIR has been filed and autopsy is to be carried out.