Belagavi (Karnataka), Oct 25: Two children of a businessman were allegedly kidnapped from their residence in this district headquarters town, police said on Friday.
A CCTV footage of the incident showed two men entering the house and running away with them - a four-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy, they said.
Both the children have been secured and handed over to their parents while the three men involved in the alleged kidnapping have been arrested, police said.
According to police, the incident took place on Thursday afternoon after the two kids had just returned from school and were playing inside the living room of the house. At the time, only their grandmother was at home.
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The third accused was waiting with a car a few metres away from the house. The two men pushed the children inside the vehicle and sped away.
The police managed to trace the route of the suspects with the help of CCTV footage and technical surveillance, and immediately alerted their counterparts in the neighbouring districts, a senior police official said.
"With the help of technical surveillance, the police team chased the vehicle in which the kidnapped children were taken away by the accused and intercepted the vehicle near Kohalli in Belagavi district at around 4.25 am on Friday," he said.
"Both the children have been secured safely. They did not have any injuries and the three accused who were in the vehicle were also arrested in connection with the incident," the official said.
During interrogation, one of the accused revealed that he had invested in the trading platform of the businessman and incurred heavy losses. When he asked the businessman over Rs one crore following this, he refused to pay him and, so, he decided to kidnap the children, he said.
#WATCH | Karnataka: Kidnapping of two children, aged 3 and 4 years, in Belagavi district was caught on CCTV.
— ANI (@ANI) October 25, 2024
Belagavi police launched a manhunt for two kidnappers who arrived in a car, entered a home with weapons, kidnapped two children and escaped in a car. The parents of the… pic.twitter.com/D36U4plaf3
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Malegaon (Maharashtra), Nov 23: In a closely contested election, Mohammad Ismail Abdul Khalique of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has retained the Malegaon Central assembly seat, winning by a razor-thin margin of 162 votes.
This victory in the north Maharashtra constituency marks a significant turnaround for Khalique, who previously enjoyed a commanding lead in the 2019 elections, winning by over one lakh votes.
Khalique, an Islamic scholar, received a total of 1,09,653 votes this time, narrowly defeating his nearest rival, Asif Shaikh Rasheed of the Indian Secular Largest Assembly of Maharashtra party, who got 1,09,491 votes.
There were a total of 13 candidates contesting in this Muslim dominated constituency. Barring Khalique and Rasheed, two other candidates -- Shaan-e-Hind Nihal Ahmed of Samajwadi Party and Ejaz Baig Aziz Baig managed below 10,000 votes. Other remaining candidates were below 1,000 votes.
This election marks Khalique's third term as an MLA. He initially represented the Malegaon Central seat in 2009 as a member of the Jan Surajya Shakti party.
However, Khalique faced a setback in the 2014 elections when he contested under the banner of the Nationalist Congress Party and lost.
His return to the assembly in 2019 under the AIMIM banner solidified his political presence, and despite the significantly reduced margin this year, he has once again emerged victorious.
The results highlight the competitive nature of the Malegaon Central constituency and underscore Khalique's resilience in maintaining his position amidst changing political dynamics.