Four held for killing woman and kidnapping her baby boy

Four persons, including three women, have been arrested for allegedly killing a woman in Hadapsar suburb here by posing as polio vaccination volunteers and kidnapping her 25-day-old baby boy, police said today.
The accused were planning to sell off the infant for Rs four lakh, police said.
The accused identified as Nikita Kangane (30), Chandrabhaga Krushna (35), Laxmi Jadhav (19) and Akash Krushna (19), all residents of Hadapsar, were arrested yesterday for the alleged crime that took place on Thursday.
"Kangane and Jadhav had developed a rapport with Madhu Thakur (22) by posing themselves as polio vaccination volunteers and used to come to the woman's house. On Thursday, the duo came to her house and told Madhu that they would help her receive government subsidy, meant for poor women, who have delivered babies," police said.

"Unsuspecting, Madhu went with two women along with her baby boy. The suspects took her to a house in the vicinity, where she was strangulated to death and her body was dumped in the same place," said police inspector, Vishnu Pawar of Hadapsar police station.
He said that since Madhu did not return home for the entire day, her husband, Kedarnath Thakur approached the police station and registered a case.

"During our investigation, we found Madhu murdered at the house with strangulation marks on her neck. However, the baby was missing. But after sustained interrogation, Kangane spilled the beans," Pawar said.

The baby was recovered from a place in the city and police got the information that the accused were planning to sell off the baby for Rs 4 lakh, he said.
Police suspect a child theft racket and are investigating the case.