Mid-Day

Mumbai, May 24: A 16-year-old boy rescued an abandoned one-year-old yesterday and handed him over to his family after searching for them for over three hours.

Two teenage boys, brothers Shahid Sheikh (17) and Shakeer Sheikh (16) — distant relatives of the Jaffers — kidnapped Sahil Jaffer from his BIT Chawl, Byculla, home.

However, they soon got cold feet and abandoned the baby at a taxi stand, where car mechanic Mohammed Tamanna found him.

Tamanna was walking along Morland Road, Nagpada, at 6 pm, when he heard a child crying. He found Sahil between two taxis and immediately picked him up. For the next three hours, he roamed the streets with Sahil in his arms, asking passers-by if any one knew him.

At around 9 pm, he reached near BIT Chawl and was spotted by Mohammed Jaffer, Sahil’s father, and the neighbours who were searching for him.

The kidnapping was pieced together when icecream vendor Basheer Sheikh revealed that Shahid and Shakeer had brought Sahil to his shop and bought him an ice cream.

The neighbours immediately got hold of the two brothers, who lived in the same area, and beat them up, making them confess.

Sahil was kidnapped from his home at around 4 pm. While Sahil’s mother Noor Sabha Begum was busy in the kitchen, the kid was playing outside the house. The kidnappers took advantage of the opportunity and lured the child away with promises of buying him an ice cream. Since they were regular visitors to the Jaffer household, Sahil went with them trustingly.

After a while, when Noor Sabha came out she realised her son was missing. When she couldn’t find Sahil anywhere, she raised an alarm.

Jaffer was away at work when the incident took place. He rushed back home as soon as he was told that his son was missing. He and his neighbours started searching for Sahil at 5.45 pm.

Shahid and Shakeer have been taken to Agripada police station. Pratap Poman, the investigating officer, said, “The motive behind the kidnapping is not known yet.”