According to Mumbai Police, a 32-year-old lifeguard has been detained here for allegedly abducting an MBBS student from a city college who has been missing since November 2021.
The accused was allegedly last seen with Sadichha Sane (22), a third-year student at Sir JJ Hospital and Grant Medical College.
She has not yet been located.
Suspect arrested from Bandra, sent to police custody
The official stated that the suspect was taken into custody by the Crime Branch of the Mumbai Police on Thursday night in the Bandra suburb before being arrested on Friday.
A court sent him in police custody till January 21.
Nagpada Police had conducted narco-analysis and brain-mapping tests on him in August last year, but the reports were inconclusive, the official said.
In November 2021, Sane boarded a train at 9.58 am from Virar station and got off at Andheri as she was to appear for her prelim examinations at 2 pm. Then she boarded another train and alighted at Bandra from where she took an auto rickshaw to Bandra Bandstand, a seaside spot.
Her mobile phone location history indicated that she kept on roaming around in the area that afternoon.
Suspect interacted with victim at Bandstand
As per the accused's account, he was on duty as beach lifeguard at Bandra Bandstand that day. On spotting her alone, he suspected that she might attempt suicide and approached her.
She told him that she was not there to end her life. The two then sat on a rock and began to chat. During this nearly three-hour period, he also clicked four selfies with her, the police official said.
When news broke that a woman matching her description had gone missing, he did not report his encounter with her to police, the official said.
Only when police zeroed in on him, he admitted that he had run into her and chatted with her.
He has been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 363 (kidnapping) and 364 (E) (kidnapping for ransom) and further investigation is underway, the official added.
(With inputs from PTI)
