Hindu Girl Kidnapped by Muslim 'Chat Friend' in India

From The Telegraph India:

Shillong, July 5: Social networking has landed a college girl in trouble after a man who she got acquainted with abducted her when she went to meet him in Bangalore.

Shenaz Rymbai, the mother of Sahana, 22, today told this correspondent that she had filed an FIR on the night of June 29 after her daughter did not return home from Umshyrpi College in Shillong. The Rymbais are residents of Nongmynsong.

Today, president of the Civil Society Women’s Organisation, Agnes Kharshiing, who has met Sahana’s relatives, said the girl and Sameer Gafoor of Bangalore had been chatting online for many months.

After talking to Sahana’s mother, Kharshiing came to know that Sahana told her that Sameer is affected by polio.

Kharshiing said Sameer had posted his passport-size photo on the social networking site and claimed to have several business establishments in Bangalore. In the last week of June, he invited Sahana to come to Bangalore to meet him.

An unsuspecting Sahana boarded a Guwahati-Bangalore flight with Rs 15,000.

Sameer and his relatives waited for her at Bangalore airport and after reaching there on June 29, she was asked to wear a burqa and speak Hindi instead of Khasi, her mother tongue.

Two days later, Shenaz dialled her daughter’s mobile number but an anonymous voice demanded Rs 5 lakh from the family for her release.

Initially, the kidnapper asked Sahana’s relatives to deposit Rs 5 lakh with account number 23245 of Karnatak Bank (gramin).

Later, he asked Shenaz to come to the Bangalore airport with the ransom amount. Shenaz said her daughter told her that she was staying in a secluded place wearing a burqa.

Kharshiing contacted a Meghalaya police officer who called up senior police officers in Bangalore to track down the girl.

Bangalore police were trying to rescue Sahana, Kharshiing said.

An officer with the Nongmynsong police outpost said the police were trying to trace her.