Rescue and Arrest
A seven-year-old girl who was allegedly abducted from Cuttack railway station on Saturday has been rescued, and a 52-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the case, police said on Monday. The girl was found safe on Sunday afternoon at Kaipadar Road railway station by the Railway Protection Force (RPF), according to police commissioner S Dev Datta Singh.
The accused, identified as Rajkishore Routray alias Raju, a ragpicker from Thoria Sahi under Mangalabag police station, was arrested from Balikuda railway station, police said. Commissionerate police and the RPF coordinated efforts to trace the child after she went missing.
Incident Details
The girl was waiting for a train with her maternal grandparents when she disappeared. According to a complaint lodged by her grandmother, the girl was left at a spot in Cuttack station while her grandmother went to buy food. On returning, the girl was not found. The Times of India reported that the child was left briefly unattended outside the station by her grandparents, who had gone to fetch food, and that they lodged a complaint at Chauliaganj police station.
Police commissioner S Dev Datta Singh said that based on the complaint, an investigation was launched comprising 10 teams headed by ACPs and inspectors. The teams, in coordination with the RPF control room, detected a faint movement pattern along the railway tracks, which indicated the route the accused appeared to have taken with the girl. Police followed the trail by examining multiple CCTV cameras along the suspected route and footage of adjoining and surrounding areas, Singh said. The Times of India reported that police scanned around 100 CCTV camera footage across multiple railway stations in Cuttack, Khurda, Jajpur, and Bhadrak districts.
The Search and Arrest
According to The Times of India, Routray walked nearly 3km along the railway track with the girl before reaching Kaipadar station in Khurda late Saturday night. He fed the child and consumed liquor near the station, police said. An alert RPF constable noticed his suspicious behaviour on the station premises and confronted him, according to police sources. Routray fled, abandoning the child, who was rescued safely.
Police intensified the manhunt and arrested Routray from Balikuda station in Cuttack district in the early hours of Monday. Singh said the accused frequently changed his clothing and shaved his beard and moustache to evade arrest, and moved through different police stations to avoid being caught.
Interrogation and Motive
During interrogation, Routray reportedly revealed that after kidnapping the girl, he had taken her towards Khurda. “The accused said he was a lonely man and kidnapped the girl to engage her in ragpicking or begging,” said a senior police officer from the investigating team, as reported by The New Indian Express.
The Times of India reported that police suspect Routray's motive was to sexually abuse the child and later sell her for money. The newspaper also noted that Routray, who has no family, had earlier been arrested in a theft case under Jankia police limits in Khurda in September 2025.
After the arrest, police reportedly contacted the RPF at Bhubaneswar and Khurda Road stations, who informed them about rescuing a girl on Sunday. On verifying her identity, police established she was the same girl kidnapped from Cuttack railway station, according to The New Indian Express.