Panaji: Goa police have arrested a 19-year-old youth from Maharashtra’s Kankavli for allegedly kidnapping a minor girl from North Goa, officials said on Thursday.
Police said the victim, a native of Kankumbi in Karnataka, was residing with her aunt at Kudchirem in Bicholim town in North Goa and was studying at a higher secondary school in Sattari.
Superintendent of Police (North) Rahul Gupta said that on September 24, the girl’s brother raised an alarm after he learnt from their aunt that she had left home stating she was travelling to her native place. However, it was later confirmed that she had not reached Kankumbi, he said.
Following the complaint lodged late in the evening on September 24 at Bicholim police station, an offence of kidnapping was registered against an unidentified person, the SP said.
He said that two teams were immediately formed and dispatched to Maharashtra and Karnataka, while parallel technical surveillance and ground intelligence were used to trace the girl.
The victim was finally located in Kankavli, Maharashtra, and was safely rescued with the help of the local police, he said.
The SP said that the accused, identified as Goraksh Kishor Hodavdekar, a resident of Parabwadi in Kankavli, was arrested at around 3:56 pm on September 25 from Kankavli police station and later brought to Goa under a transit remand.
The case was registered against the accused under Section 137(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 for kidnapping of a minor girl and Section 8 of the Goa Children’s Act, 2003.
