‘Couple’ had been on the run for the past two weeks
In a bizarre twist to the Powai incident wherein a middle-aged woman lured a minor boy and eloped with him, the woman and the boy surrendered at the Powai police station and the cops have recorded both their statements.
After the news was published on August 28 in ADC (49-year-old woman elopes with minor boy), Naveenchadra Reddy Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Zone X, directed the Powai police station and under his guidance, the missing persons department of Powai plice swung into action. They first registered a missing complaint on the same day, and reached the residence of the woman Poonam at Morarji Nagar in Powai the next day. However, police did not find her there. But her two sons aged 19 and 12 were present at her home.
Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Kolte gave the boys lady PSI Pawar's number and asked them to pass on the number to Poonam once she reaches home. Interestingly, within 12 hours, Poonam contacted the lady police officer of Powai police and asked her not to harass her sons as she was currently in Bihar and on her way to Kolkata. Poonam claimed she was heading there to perform some 'Pooja' with Ritesh Yadav and will be back on September 1 (Saturday).
However, the police did not trust her word so they put the mobile number she had used to contact PSI Pawar on trace. The Powai police was shocked when they found out that her mobile location was not in Kolkata and that she is somewhere in the SEEPZ locality of Andheri.
Without wasting any time, the Powai police, along with Ritesh's father Ramkripal Yadav, reached the SEEPZ locality to look for Ritesh using his photograph to ask people in the vicinity. But they failed to locate him. After almost three days, Poonam finally surrendered at the Powai police station on Saturday, along with the boy. The Powai police recorded the statement of Ritesh and Poonam. Cops asked Ritesh whether he married the woman and he replied in the negative. They then asked who he would like to live with and he said he would go along with his parents, sources said. When cops asked Poonam is she married to Ritesh, she said 'yes' but only showed an affidavit as proof of the marriage, sources added.
The Powai police is going to perform a medical examination of the duo at the St George Hospital tomorrow, to ascertain if the duo had intimate relations between August 19 to September 1.
Last week, 50-year-old Ramkripal Yadav had approached Powai police station and lodged a complaint against Poonam who is allegedly believed to have kidnapped his son. In his further claims to the cops, the father also stated that she married his son, an 18-year-old. Yadav also claimed that Poonam was four months pregnant and that she was in a relationship with Ritesh, which cops have to probe.
DCP Navinchandra Reddy said, “The woman and the youth landed at the Powai police station. After recording their statements, the youth was handed over to his family members as he wished. The allegations made by his father will be probed and investigations are in progress. We have not yet registered a case against anyone.”