Hundreds of villagers on Saturday came together and rescued an abducted six-year-old son of a farmer of Rod village within 36 hours of crime.
The accused had held the boy hostage under dense vegetation in Dholanwal village on the banks of Sutlej after tying him with a piece of rope. The accused jumped into the river in an attempt to escape, but villagers chased him and nabbed him. After thrashing the accused, the villagers handed him over to the police.
The victim, Amanpreet Singh, was bitten by insects and had swelling around his eyes. After medical examination, the custody of the boy was given to his parents.
Police commissioner Rakesh Agrawal said that the real name of the accused is Akash Kumar.
“He had intentionally concealed his identity. He had introduced himself as Vijay Kumar to Paramjit Singh, father of the boy. The police are scanning the role of Meva Lal, father of the accused, as Akash had asked the father of the boy to deposit ransom money in his bank account. A team of police has already nabbed Meva Lal in Sikarpur of Uttar Pradesh and is questioning him,” he added.
The police chief added that after receiving information, cops swung into action and formed special teams to arrest the accused on Friday.
“To avoid being traced, the accused had switched off his mobile phone. Meanwhile, the police had recovered the scooter used by him in kidnapping of the boy from the forest area of Garhi Sheru village, which gave an idea that the accused must be hiding there,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“To avoid being traced, the accused had switched off his mobile phone. Meanwhile, the police had recovered the scooter used by him in kidnapping of the boy from the forest area of Garhi Sheru village, which gave an idea that the accused must be hiding there,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“Several teams were formed for his arrest. The cops had also roped in villagers to look for the boy. On Saturday morning, the kidnapped boy was rescued,” said the commissioner of police.
“The accused is already facing trial in several criminal cases. He has confessed to his involvement in petty burglaries. He had worked at the house of a doctor in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawanshahr), from where he had stolen a mobile phone and a car. The police are investigating to ascertain his past criminal record,” he added.
He further said that the family had not done police verification of the accused before employing him for taking care of their cattle.
The family had expressed gratitude to the police for quick action and villagers for initiating a comb operation to trace the boy.
The accused had kidnapped the boy on Friday evening and demanded ₹4 lakh as ransom to release the boy. A case was registered against him at the Meharban police station.
Villagers set up example
Villagers from 10 villages surrounding Rod have set up an example of brotherhood. According to the villagers, as they came to know that a six-year-old boy has gone missing, almost all of them initiated a search operation.
Pardeep Singh Khalsa of Dholanwal village said that on Friday, the police urged them to initiate a combing operation in surrounding areas as they suspected that the accused was hiding in nearby villages.
They formed separate teams of villagers and kept on searching for the boy and the accused. None of them had slept on Friday night.
They also demanded stern action against the accused.
We had lost all hopes, says father
Paramjit Singh, father of the boy, said that on Thursday, the helper had left the house on scooter stating that he was going to buy a mobile phone charger.
“He had taken away my son too. When they did not return till night, I started searching for them. I assumed that they might have lost their way,” he added.
“I was shocked when I received the ransom message from the helper. Till Friday night, we had lost all hopes to see our son again. After the helper had switched off his phone, fear had gripped us that he had killed our son,” said the father.
“Amanpreet Singh is our only son,” said Paramjit, who also has two daughters.