3-year-old boy’s body found in train’s garbage bin in Mumbai

SURAT: The body of a three-year-old boy, Aakash alias Aarav Shah, was found in a garbage bin inside the toilet of the Kushinagar Express when the train arrived at Mumbai's Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) early on Saturday.

Aakash had been reported missing from the Amroli area since Friday noon, with his cousin, 25-year-old Vikas Shah, emerging as the prime suspect in his kidnapping."Vikas is absconding, and preliminary investigations revealed that he had taken Aakash along with him," senior police officials confirmed to TOI.Vikas, a native of Bihar, had come to Surat a week ago with his mother, Rabdi, to the residence of Aakash's family in the Housing Board colony at Ganeshpura, within the jurisdiction of Amroli police station.

Rabdi is the elder sister of Aakash's mother, Durgavati. Aakash's father works in Dubai as a labourer. In the coming days, Rabdi and Vikas were scheduled to leave for Nashik, where her husband lives.Vikas often played with Aakash, and on Friday noon, the two left home together. Police said there was no sign of force being used. The duo reportedly took a lift from a two-wheeler rider to the railway station. CCTV footage from Surat railway station showed Vikas and Aakash walking around freely.

By evening, they were traced to Dadar, and from there Vikas is believed to have proceeded to Thane with the boy."The train in which the body was found does not halt at Surat or Dadar. We suspect Vikas took Aakash up to Thane and later dumped his body in the train's garbage bin at Thane railway station," Amroli police officials said.The motive behind Vikas's actions remains unclear. Family members told police that he occasionally displayed abnormal behavior. Unemployed and unmarried, he was known to be under stress, though no specific reason for the crime has yet been established, police said.