A one-year-old baby girl, who was kidnapped by some unidentified persons from a village in Bhiwandi of Maharashtra's Thane district, was traced by the police within five hours, an official said on Saturday.
The toddler was abducted from her home in Shelar village on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday when her mother had stepped out to answer nature's call and her father was asleep, senior inspector Ram Balsingh of Bhiwandi taluka police station said.
The child's mother had stepped out after locking the door from the outside and when she returned, saw that the lock had been opened and the baby was missing, the official said.
She raised an alarm and when the baby could not be found in the nearby places, a complaint of kidnapping was lodged and a search operation was launched, he said.
The child was found abandoned near a temple in the village around 6 am on Friday and was reunited with her parents, the official said, adding that further probe is underway to trace the kidnappers.
