Class 8 student gives his kidnappers a slip in Gurgaon

A Class 8 student of a private school escaped from his kidnappers, who was allegedly kept tied up in the car boot, near the Sector 5 market on Tuesday evening.

A Class 8 student of a private school escaped from his kidnappers near the Sector 5 market on Tuesday evening. The boy was allegedly kept tied up in the boot of a car.

Three unknown men allegedly caught hold of 12-year-old Lokesh Sharma when he was on his way to a nearby department store in Ashok Vihar Phase 3 to buy cotton for his mother who works in a beauty parlour.

They sedated the boy, tied his hands and legs, and put him in the car boot, the police said. When Sharma regained consciousness, he overheard the men informing someone over phone that they kidnapped the boy and was enquiring where they should take him to.

Sharma untied himself, opened the car boot in two attempts and sprinted to a furniture shop on Palam Vihar Road, which was a kilometre away, the police said. The men chased the boy, but fled when they found him surrounded by people.

Sharma narrated the incident to the shopkeeper, who informed the boy’s mother. She rushed to the shop along with her neighbours and informed the police.

“The boy was sharp and active. He showed courage and acted promptly. He managed to open the car boot in two attempts. He saw the car was parked near the market in Sector 5 and ran towards the main road. One of the men saw this and ran after him. But, before he could catch the boy, he entered a furniture shop,” inspector Shailender Singh, SHO of the Sector 5 police station, said.

The mother, a single parent, refused to file a complaint with the police. But, the police recorded the boy’s statement, officers said.

“The boy is a celebrity in the area and everyone is speaking of his courage,” Kamal Kumar, one of the neighbours, said.