The crime branch of Bombay police has arrested the estranged wife and mother-in-law of filmmaker Faruk Kabir on charges of stealing his newborn daughter and trying to flee the country. The police also rescued the baby.
Kabir on December 21 lodged an FIR with the Versova police station against his wife, Sanam, an Uzbekistan national, her mother, Dilfuza, and her step-father, Tejas Khanna. Sanam and the baby were found in Amritsar and brought to Bombay by police inspector Daya Nayak and his team.
Kabir and Sanam got married in Uzbekistan last year and had been living in India since then. Problems arose in December when, after the birth of their daughter, Sanam and her parents insisted on getting Uzbek nationality for her. In his complaint, Faruk alleged that Tejas Khanna tried to pressurise the hospital staff to mention Uzbekistan as the newborn’s nationality. He further alleged that his wife and her parents fled with the baby, along with the latter’s birth certificate and other documents and gold ornaments worth Rs. 7 lakh.
Faruk Kabir had also filed a habeas corpus in the Bombay high court to produce his daughter and allow her to stay with him. In its reply to the court, the Versova police said that they had traced Sanam to Amritsar and had notified the Foreign Regional Registration Office about the matter. The court then directed the police to take necessary steps.