Two who kidnapped boy in Ghaziabad for ₹20 lakh ransom arrested after gunfight

The police said the two suspects did small time jobs now and then and were largely unemployed. They zeroed in on the boy and decided to kidnap him about a week ago, police said

The Ghaziabad police on Wednesday afternoon arrested two men on charges of abducting a three-year-old boy from outside his house in Vijay Nagar on Tuesday evening and demanding a ransom of ₹20 lakh for his release. The two suspects were nabbed following brief encounter with the police at Hindon Pushta near Vijay Nagar in which one of the suspects sustained a gunshot wound to his leg, said police.

After the ransom call, the police through electronic surveillance tracked the suspects and nabbed them when they came to Ghaziabad to pick up the ransom. (AFP)

The police identified the two men as Sunny Kumar, 22, and Ramsharan Jatav, 26, both residents of Behrampur in Vijay Nagar and hailing from Mainpuri and Firozabad district, respectively. The police said the two did small time jobs now and then and were largely unemployed. They zeroed in on the boy and decided to kidnap him about a week ago, police said.

“The two picked up the child from outside his house in Behrampur around 6pm and kept changing their location in Ghaziabad frequently before finally taking the child to Etah. There, they called up the family of the child and demanded ransom of ₹20 lakh. After the child went missing on Tuesday evening, his family informed the police and the footage from one of the CCTV cameras from the locality showed Sunny taking away the child,” said Iraj Raja, superintendent of police (rural).

The police immediately registered an FIR under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 364a (kidnapping for ransom) and formed five teams for safe recovery of the child, who is the son of realestate businessman Nitin Chauhan.

“I was out of town on work and my brother received a ransom call on Wednesday afternoon. The kidnappers demanded ₹20 lakh. Prime suspect Sunny is often seen in the locality and he may managed to get familiar with my son. He was recovered by the police and handed over to me,” Chauhan said.

After the ransom call, the police through electronic surveillance tracked the suspects and nabbed them when they came to Ghaziabad to pick up the ransom.

“From Etah they came to Ghaziabad on Wednesday afternoon to collect the ransom. Our teams cornered them near Hindon Pushta around 2.30pm. Sunny tried to open fire at the police and sustained a gunshot wound to his leg in retaliatory firing. He and his accomplice were arrested and the child rescued. They said they were unemployed and wanted to make some money. So, they targeted the family after knowing about their realestate business,” the SP said.

Apart from kidnapping for ransom, the police further booked the two suspects for attempt to murder for opening fire on the police team and also levied provision of the Arms Act against them.