Siblings rescued within 24 hours, two arrested for kidnapping and ransom

A 17-year-old girl and her 7-year-old brother were rescued in Mumbai after being kidnapped for a ransom of ₹10 lakh. Two of the girl's friends were arrested.

MUMBAI: A 17-year-old girl and her seven-year-old brother were rescued on Monday morning and two of the teenager’s friends were arrested for allegedly kidnapping them for a ransom of ₹10 lakh on Sunday morning. The siblings were found confined in a flat in Mira Road within 24 hours of their abduction.

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The incident unfolded when Deepak Kumar Gupta, 49, a shoe trader, approached the Naigaon police on Sunday afternoon after receiving a ransom call from the kidnappers. The abductors had used Gupta’s daughter Akanksha’s mobile phone to make a video call.

Gupta, who lives in the Wakipada area in Naigaon, informed the police that at 11am on Sunday, Akanksha and her brother had left home to go to a local shop. When they did not return after an hour, Gupta grew concerned. As he was about to inform the police, he received the ransom call from his daughter’s mobile phone threatening to kill the children if the ransom of ₹10 lakh was not paid by Monday morning.

Gupta rushed to the police and based on his statement the police registered a kidnapping case. Three teams, including crime branch officers, were formed to trace the location of the phone used for the ransom call. Ramesh Bhame, a senior police inspector of Naigaon police station, said that the phone was switched on in intervals through which they located it in Kashimira. “We reached the location and found the siblings tied up in a flat in a building in Kashimira,” said a police officer from Naigaon police station.

The kidnappers, identified as Jayprakash Gupta, 20, and Vipul Tiwari, 21, both truck drivers, were arrested. “I do not know any of the accused and did not even know how they learned about my business transactions, as they were aware of the cash, I had received a few days ago after a deal,” said Gupta.

On questioning, Jayprakash told the police officers that he was friends with Akanksha and through her, he found out that Gupta had money. “On Friday Jayprakash hatched a plan to kidnap Akanksha,” said the officer.

He added that Jayprakash had called Akanksha to meet him but had not expected her to get her younger brother along. “Jayprakash did not want to cancel his plan. He decided to kidnap the siblings,” added the officers. The police rescued the two within 24 hours of the kidnapping and reunited them with their parents.