In a disturbing incident that highlighted growing concerns about children’s safety on Mumbai’s streets, a 4-year-old boy was abducted and robbed of his gold earrings in Vikhroli East on March 24 near midday, before being rescued shortly afterwards by police.
The child had walked out of his home alone with a small note from his mother to buy biscuits from a nearby shop. Two young men noticed him and, drawn by his gold studs, grabbed him and dragged him to a secluded area behind a nullah. There, they forcefully removed the earrings from his ear — leaving the child injured — before bolting from the scene.
Shaken but lucid, the boy managed to describe his attackers in remarkable detail, even at his young age. His account — including their clothing, demeanour, voice, and the direction in which they fled — became the linchpin of the investigation, helping Vikhroli police track down the suspects swiftly despite the absence of CCTV footage around the spot.
Officers arrested 25-year-old Mohammed Bashir (also identified as Ubed Salim Shaikh) and 24-year-old Arbaz Zahidali Pathan (alias Allu), both local residents with no known criminal history, confirming the crime was unplanned and opportunistic rather than premeditated. During questioning, they confessed to the attack, and police recovered the four-gram pair of gold earrings valued at around ₹50,000.
The accused have been remanded in police custody, while authorities continue to assess whether the incident points to a wider pattern of opportunistic street crimes.
