Mumbai’s Worli erupted in alarm when a man tried snatching a five-year-old boy – son of a police sub-inspector – right from under the neighborhood’s nose. The botched plot ended with the assailant’s arrest, crediting a vigilant mother and proactive locals.
The timeline paints a tense picture: 6:30 PM, Worli Police Camp. Komal Tawre, wife of Colaba’s Sachin Tawre, was cooking as her son Smayts joined an eight-year-old friend for snacks. Minutes later, the girl fled back, yelling about a man seizing the boy.
Komal raced to a constricted passageway, locking eyes with perpetrator Laxman Kalu Chaudhary, 55, of Sakinaka, who was force-marching her child seaward. Her distress calls summoned a group of residents; they pounced, liberating Smayts amid the chaos.
A parallel call to police control brought Worli teams charging in. Chaudhary was detained promptly, the child safeguarded and restored to family. Charges of attempted kidnapping now hang over him.
What drove this man into a police bastion? Investigators are grilling him on intent, entry method, and potential networks. No ransom demands surfaced, fueling speculation of personal vendetta or opportunistic crime.
‘The incident was nipped in the bud due to extraordinary alertness,’ noted police. It spotlights vulnerabilities even in fortified zones, prompting reviews of access protocols and community safety drills. For now, one family’s nightmare dissolved into relief, but Mumbai’s guardians stay on high alert.