Greed for money led to the arrest of two 20-year-old women who allegedly kidnapped a 3-year-old girl child from Jama Masjid area with the intention of selling her for Rs 50,000. The duo was arrested by Delhi Police on Sunday afternoon and the child was rescued safely within 48 hours of her abduction.

According to police, the two accused persons were identified as Rani (20) and Sahili (20), both residents of Usman Pur. Police disclosed that the two are childhood friends and are married to two brothers of the same family.

“On Friday, a man filed a complaint at Jama Masjid Police Station regarding the kidnapping of his 3-year-old daughter. He told police that he along with his wife, younger brother and two daughters were visiting Jama Masjid. His daughters were playing near Vajukhana, when his younger daughter went missing. A case of kidnapping was registered on his statement,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa stated.

During investigation, police obtained CCTV footages in and around the area. On analysing the footages, three women were found walking with the kidnapped child but nobody could recognize these women, police said.

Sources were deployed to gather local intelligence and on Sunday, information was received by police officials stating that the two women will be arriving at Jama Masjid along with the kidnapped child. Police team laid a trap and both the women were arrested and the kidnapped child was also rescued safely.

“The women were subjected to interrogation in which, they disclosed that they were in dire need of money. Rani came in contact with a woman to seek employment. The woman told her that she needs a child and is willing to pay Rs 50,000. Rani shared this with Sahili and they agreed to kidnap a child,” said the DCP.

“The woman also told them that they could kidnap the child from Jama Masjid area on Friday as large number of devotees came there for Jumma Namaz,” he said.

The duo arrived at Jama Masjid on Friday, and started looking for a target. They found two minor girls playing in the area and took the opportunity to kidnap the younger child and fled the scene.

“They met the woman who was waiting outside and they all boarded an auto-rickshaw for Shastri Park where the woman got down and gave them Rs  5,000 as advance and asked them to keep the child with them for one or two days and when the matter will be settled, she will take the child and pay them the balance money,” the DCP said.  “On Sunday afternoon, the two accused persons arrived at Jama Masjid to handover the child to the woman but they were arrested by the police team. Further investigation is in progress” the DCP added.