Law student among 3 held for baby’s kidnapping

Four people, including a first-year law student, were arrested on charges of kidnapping a one-year-old from Vijay Nagar area of Ghaziabad on Sunday, police said on Tuesday.

Four people, including a first-year law student, were arrested on charges of kidnapping a one-year-old from Vijay Nagar area of Ghaziabad on Sunday, police said on Tuesday.

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The police denied reports the child had been abducted for human sacrifice on the occasion of Holi.

Joint-operations launched by the Ghaziabad and the Uttarakhand Police led to the arrest of Shadab Rehman (20), Rashid Khan (21), Dhan Singh (28) and Rajendra Singh Negi.

The child was playing near his home on Sunday morning, when he was abducted, police said.

“Geeta Singh — Dhan Singh's sister-in-law — had two daughters. Her son had died last year due to illness,” said SSP Raguvir Lal said.

“She herself had undergone a permanent female-sterilisation and later hired a surrogate-mother to bear her a boy. When a girl was born, she asked Singh to bring her a boy.”

Singh, who works as an assistant with a Patiala House lawyer in Delhi, hired Rashid Khan who studies Law at a private college in Ghaziabad and abducted the child of Nasrul Islam, a small-time businessman, police said.

“The woman and Dhan Singh then hired a bus from the Anand Vihar ISBT and took the child to Haldwani in Uttarakhand the same night but were nabbed after a tip off from Rashid Khan,” the SSP said.

“Khan, who is a resident of Vijay Nagar, was arrested after the locals provided leads.”

A Hero Honda CBZ motorbike used during the kidnapping and the contract amount of Rs 65,000 was also recovered from Rashid Khan, police said.

However, Geeta Singh was not arrested by the police as she had no intention of procuring a child through kidnapping, the SSP said. The boy has now returned to his parents.