In a testament to relentless police work, a five-month search spanning nearly 500 villages across Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, burning over 10,000 kilometres worth of fuel, finally led to the arrest of a man accused of a horrific crime against a child. The accused, Anil, a 28-year-old dairy owner, was apprehended on December 30 from Motipur village in Greater Noida for allegedly kidnapping a teenager, forcing him into bonded labour, and torturing him, which resulted in the boy losing his left arm.
A Trail of Trauma and a Fleeting Escape
The harrowing case came to light in July last year when locals in Badoli village of Palwal found the 15-year-old victim, who was frail, maimed, and missing his left arm. The boy, a native of Kishanganj in Bihar, revealed he had been dumped and told to fend for himself. In his traumatised state, he could only recall that his captor was named Anil, owned a dairy and a water body, and had two daughters named Riya and Siya.
After being taken to a hospital in Nuh by a PCR van, the boy, in acute pain, escaped barefoot and without clothes while being prepared for surgery. He managed to reach Tauru in Nuh and later Nuh city, where a compassionate teacher found him, took him to a health centre, and informed the police, who then contacted his family.
Unravelling a Horrific Ordeal
It took time for the boy to overcome his trauma and narrate his full story. The Government Railway Police (GRP) in Bahadurgarh took up the case after a local Rohtak newspaper reported his plight. The boy had gone missing from Bahadurgarh railway station in Jhajjar on May 27 after he got off the Farakka Express to find water and missed his train. He was travelling with his father, Rishidev, and brother, Kailash, back home from Himachal Pradesh.
The GRP filed a case under multiple sections, including the Juvenile Justice Act and the new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), covering grievous hurt, kidnapping, wrongful confinement, and unlawful compulsory labour. The investigation revealed the boy's left arm was shredded in a fodder-cutting machine, after which the severed limb was thrown into a water body. The bleeding minor was then driven for hours and abandoned in Haryana with just Rs 7,500, without any medical aid.
The Relentless Village-by-Village Search
By November, the boy had undergone three surgeries, and his family, losing hope, took him back to Kishanganj. The GRP unit, however, refused to give up. Led by SP Nitika Gahlaut and Inspector Satya Prakash, teams from Ambala, Rohtak, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Panipat, and Sonipat embarked on a mammoth search.
They began by reaching out to village sarpanches with the clues: dairy owner Anil with daughters Riya and Siya. They mapped areas based on the boy's description of a water body, initially focusing on stormwater drains. A parallel digital sweep involved the Haryana education department and school boards to find enrolment records matching the names, which yielded 20 potential leads that were all physically verified but led nowhere.
The breakthrough came in November when the boy, accompanying a GRP team in Delhi, pointed to silt along the Yamuna banks, stating the soil matched that of Anil's farm. This crucial clue redirected the entire search to villages along the Yamuna in Haryana, Delhi, and UP. Officials often exceeded sanctioned fuel budgets, with investigators sometimes paying from their own pockets to keep the search alive.
Justice for the 'Boy No One Was Looking For'
The persistence paid off on December 30. Anil was finally traced to Motipur village. During interrogation, he told police he "got frightened" after the accident. He claimed he had found the tearful boy near Bahadurgarh railway station and took him for work.
Inspector Satya Prakash, who led the trail despite a transfer to Ambala, stated their motivation was simple: "We wanted to get justice for a kid who lost his arm and was abandoned in pain on a road. Though the family gave up hope, our SP encouraged us to nab the accused even when all resources were exhausted." The case stands as a stark reminder of bonded labour and the lengths to which determined law enforcement will go to seek justice for the most vulnerable.
