Servant on leave part of plan

It was the crucial input given by a domestic help employed at an adjacent house that gave Delhi Police the first, and the most important, lead in the kidnapping of 18-month-old Ishaan Singh.

It was the crucial input given by a domestic help employed at an adjacent house that gave Delhi Police the first, and the most important, lead in the kidnapping of 18-month-old Ishaan Singh.

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The toddler was kidnapped by his newly employed nanny on Sunday.

While investigating the case, the police wanted to locate Pratima, the domestic help who was with the Singhs for the past one month and went on leave four days before the incident.

“Pratima was employed through a neighbour, who later told us about Ashok Kiro who was Pratima’s fiancé and lived in the area,” said a senior police officer requesting anonymity.

Police apprehended Kiro on Tuesday afternoon from Maharani Bagh area.

“Pratima helped hatch the conspiracy. The only thing she couldn’t do was kidnap the child herself as she was employed through a maid working in the adjacent house. Had Pratima run away with the child, the plan wouldn’t have succeeded. That is why they roped in Savita,” the officer said.

“Savita had a mobile phone with her but was told to ensure that the family should not know about it and to win the child’s affection. The kidnappers were smart enough to ensure that they didn’t use the phones so as to escape technical surveillance,” the officer said.

After Kiro divulged the kidnappers’ hideout in Sarai Kale Khan — where they first took the child — the police raided the place and found out that the kidnappers had abandoned it on Monday night.

On further interrogation, Kiro disclosed another hideout — that of the mastermind of the kidnapping Krishan Dev Kumar — in Faridabad. The place was kept under surveillance and Kumar was taken into custody on Tuesday at 8.45pm.

“He worked as an electrician in Maharani Bagh. He thought that if he didn’t report to duty, the police become suspicious. We traced him to his rented accommodation in New Friends Colony, where he appeared on Tuesday afternoon after two days’ absence to portray that he had nothing to do with the abduction,” the officer added.

During interrogation Kumar told the police that the child was with Anu Ara Begam, who runs a placement agency in in Savita Vihar area, and Savita at Harkesh Nagar near Tilpat in Faridabad.

A team of crime branch raided this hideout and rescued the child from them around 10.45pm.