Latur, Jun 7 (PTI) Police in Maharashtra’s Latur have rescued a three-year-old child more than 10 days after he was kidnapped by a man, who once wanted to have a relationship with the toddler’s mother, an official said on Saturday.

The child went missing from Ghumasta Colony in the city on May 26, prompting his family to approach the Vivekanand Chowk police station.

Acting on several inputs, the police took Mahesh Ramakant Suryawanshi, a resident of Ausa, into custody from Solapur on Friday.

Suryawanshi told the police that he had abandoned the child a few hours earlier on the bank of the Chandrabhaga River in Pandharpur, about 70 km from Solapur, the official said.

The team from Latur got in touch with their counterparts in Pandharpur and rescued the child. He was then handed over to his mother, who works as a nurse in a government hospital, the official said.

According to the police, Suryawanshi had worked as a contractual lab technician at the hospital, where the child’s mother is posted, during the COVID-19 pandemic. He had developed a one-sided affection for her and had proposed to her for a relationship.

However, the married woman rejected his proposal. While Suryawanshi moved to Pune about a year ago, he still held a grudge against her. Driven by resentment, he abducted the child, said inspector Santosh Patil. PTI COR. NR