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3 held for abducting, killing 14-yr-old boy, demanding 15 lakh ransom in U.P.’s Prayagraj
A 14-year-old boy was abducted for ransom in Prayagraj and later found dead in a forest in Chitrakoot. Three abductors were arrested after a shootout with the police.
The district police recovered the body a 14-year-old boy, who was allegedly abducted for ransom on Saturday evening from Shankargarh area of Prayagraj and later killed, following a search in Arwari forests of Bargarh area in neighbouring Chitrakoot district on Sunday morning.
Prayagraj police commissioner Ramit Sharma led the massive search operation in the area. Later, the police team traced the location of three abductors near Garhwa nursery in Shankargarh. They were asked to surrender but they opened fire on the police team.
In retaliatory firing, two of the abductors identified as Sukhdev of Bargarh in Chitrakoot district and Sanjay Verma alias Ratnesh of Shivpur in Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district received bullet injuries in their legs, Sharma said. All three accused, including the third one identified as Ganesh Chandra of Bargarh in Chitrakoot, were nabbed by Shankargarh police and special operations group (SOG). A police constable Sagar was also injured in the incident.
Two .32 bore country made pistols, ammunition and bike used in abduction were also recovered from them, the police commissioner said. Primary investigations suggest that ransom was the motive behind the abduction. However, the accused were being questioned to ascertain if the accused had an enmity with the boy’s father, police officials said.
A resident of Shankargarh area, Shubh Kesarwani, the son of wholesale biscuit trader Pushpraj Kesarwani, was a Class 8 student. On Saturday evening, Shubh went missing at around 5 pm from his father’s shop. The family grew worried when the boy did not return home till late in the evening.
At around 8.15 pm, Pushpraj Kesarwani received a call from an unidentified number on his mobile phone. The caller claimed that they had abducted his son and demanded a ransom of ₹15 lakh. The caller threatened to kill Shubh and summoned Pushpraj to Dhabhaura forest with cash.
Pushpraj immediately approached Shankargarh police. Multiple police teams, including the SOG, were roped in to rescue the abducted boy. During questioning, the accused confessed to their involvement in the crime, Sharma said. Sukhdev is the brother of Pushpraj’s driver Loknath and was familiar with his son Shubh.
On Saturday evening, Sukhdev and other accused lured Shubh to nearby forest area on pretext of showing him wild rabbits. They took Shubh to Bargarh forest area and killed him by hitting him with a stone on his head, the cop said.
