mumbai

Updated: Dec 16, 2017 14:26 IST

The family of a five-year-old, who was allegedly kidnapped from Bandra (East) on Monday, said the unidentified accused had tried to lure two more boys in the locality.

“The accused also approached two boys before kidnapping Jaideep, but they did not pay him any attention as they were busy playing with a cat in the building,” the boy’s aunt Bina Saini told HT.

CCTV footage showed that the man, who was wearing a red shirt and khaki pants, also tried to abduct a minor girl in Maharshtra Nagar.

“But she found something suspicious and started to cry. The man left the girl as not to attract people’s attention,” said an officer from Kherwadi police station.

To arrest the man, the Kherwadi police have shared CCTV footage of the incident in the neighbouring areas and all police stations.

Jaideep was found at Grant Road station — 10 hours after being kidnapped.

Despite sifting through CCTV footage obtained from entry and exit points at Bandra and Grant Road railway stations, the police are still unclear how the boy reached Grant Road railway station.

CCTV footage showed Jaideep talking to a man, who was wearing a red shirt and khaki pants, outside his SRA building in Maharshtra Nagar at 10am on Monday. The man gave Jaideep Rs20 for food and took him to a shop, according to the video. What happened after they left from the building is unclear.

Jiadeep was found at platform number 2 at Grant Road railway station at 5.30 pm.Officials suspect that the man is a serial kidnapper and could target other children too.

The police have cited two reasons for not making any headway in the case: the boy speaks in Marwadi and is not well-versed with Hindi; second, new to the city, he could not related the exact sequence.

The boy and her mother had come from Churu in Rajasthan to attend her cousin’s wedding in Bandra.

“It was the day of my son’s wedding when Jaideep was kidnapped. Everyone was searching for him in the are,” Bina said.

Jaideep’s mother Sushila visited Shirdi temple in Nashik and Siddhivinayak along with her son as she promised to seek blessings.