MARGAO
With kidnapping scare doing the rounds around the state countryside, South Goa district Police chief, SP Abhishek Dhania, IPS has sought to allay fears of parents and citizens, reassuring them that not a single complaint of child abduction has been reported in the district, leave alone any such being investigated by the police.
Briefing the media, the district police chief asserted that there’s no basis for the rumours doing the rounds that gangs of miscreants have been involved in child lifting in the State.
He said rival messages have been doing the rounds in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and even Maharashtra that children have been kidnapped by a gang.
SP Dhania said the South Goa police had reported two incidents, one at Moti Dongor and the recent one at Vasco, wherein people directed their fury at two persons.
“At Moti Dongor, a woman was going home with her son when the rag picker tried to assault her. The accused Mohammed Jamsher was arrested and the investigation is in progress,” he said.
In the Fatorda incident, an Hospicio security guard called the police after he found a beggar moving around claiming he was a child lifter.
“After verification, the person has turned out to be a beggar and is booked under the Beggars Act,” he said adding that action will be initiated against the security guard for false information.
Reassuring anxious parents and citizens over the reports of child lifters on the prowl, SP Dhania said the police have taken necessary precautions by intensifying patrolling as well as deployment of police around schools and educational institutions. He, however, made a fervent plea to the parents and citizens not to believe in rumours, but to remain alert and not get carried away.
Be cautious, don’t panic over social media videos, Vasco PI tells parents
THE GOAN NETWORK
VASCO
Vasco Police Inspector Kapil Nayak on Wednesday morning advised parents to be cautious with their children but not to panic over recent videos of suspected kidnapping of minor children being circulated on social media.
He informed that there have been a lot of videos on social media regarding minor children being kidnapped from schools, but in reality, there had not been even a single case of kidnapping registered at the police station.
“Parents must definitely take utmost care of their children and not leave them alone because we never know what can happen and who can commit a crime. But at the same time, parents must not panic over social media videos," said Nayak.
PI Nayak said a social media video had gone viral of people beating a man on charges of attempting to kidnap a minor boy in Vasco.
“We sent a team to the site immediately and brought the man to the police station. We felt he was mentally unstable. We took him to Chicalim hospital and sought the opinion of doctors, who confirmed that he was mentally unstable and finally, we admitted him to the IPHB,” said PI Nayak.
