Labourer kidnaps employer’s son over non-payment of wages; arrested by Panvel police

A 35-year-old labourer kidnapped his employer’s 11-year-old son for non-payment of his wages of ₹8,000. After kidnapping the boy, the accused, Saibuddin Alam, demanded a ransom of ₹30,000 from his employer.

The Panvel City police rescued the boy from Bhiwandi with the help of Narpoli Police and arrested Alam.

Alam was known to the complainant, Sahidul Sajjad Ali Rehman, for close to a year. Rehman used to work as a mason and when he got bigger projects to work on, he used to hire more people.

Rehman said, “With Alam, I had an understanding that after the completion of the work, I would pay his wages and he had agreed. Yet, he decided to abduct my son.”

On Saturday, while the complainant’s son Kajirul was playing near his house at Chinchpada in Panvel, the accused approached him asking to accompany him for an outing.

“My son was seen with Alam at a salon and hence I called Alam. He said that they were having food and would soon drop back my son. Even after a long time, there was no news about him. I called him again to which he said that my son has gone to Kalyan. When I probed further, he said that he would drop back my son only if I paid him his ₹8,000 wages,” Rehman said.

Later, Rehman transferred ₹4,000 to an account number that Alam provided. Rehman called Alam and told that he would give the remaining amount later as he didn’t have it. But Alam started asking for ₹30,000. Alam threatened to harm his son if the amount was not paid at the earliest. Rehman then approached Panvel City police station and registered an FIR.

During the investigation, Panvel City police found that he was in the Bhiwandi area and informed Narpoli police about the same. “As per the information that we received, we traced the location and nabbed him and rescued the boy on Sunday night,” Madan Ballal, senior police inspector from Narpoli police station, said.

“He doesn’t have any criminal record and he did the crime out of greed for money. He has been remanded to police custody till Wednesday,” Vijay Kadbane, senior police inspector from Panvel City police station.

“My son told me that he was kept at Alam’s relatives’ house and played with Alam’s nephews who were his age. He had no idea that he was kidnapped and whenever he told Alam to take him home, Alam would say that they would go the next day,” Rehman said.