Two arrested for kidnapping 8-year-old for ransom of ₹50 lakh

An eight-year-old boy, who was kidnapped from Ullawas in Sector 65 for a ransom of ₹50 lakh, was rescued from Palwal on Thursday night. The police have arrested

An eight-year-old boy, who was kidnapped from Ullawas in Sector 65 for a ransom of ₹50 lakh, was rescued from Palwal on Thursday night. The police have arrested two persons in connection with the case. They are, however, yet to nab two other suspects — an auto-rickshaw driver and his relative — till Friday evening.

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According to the police, the four suspects, who belong to Palwal and Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, were relatives and had met in Palwal at a family wedding. They had allegedly planned the kidnap over drinks, said the police.

Preet Pal Sangwan, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said that the suspects thought of kidnapping a minor from Delhi but later changed their plan. “They believed that people of Gurugram have more money and conducted reconnaissance of several areas in the city. They finally planned to take up a room on rent in Gurugram and targeted Ullawas village as the rent was low,” he said.

Sangwan said the suspects started doing rounds of Sector 65 area and on December 6, zeroed in on a man, who was driving his Innova car in Ullawas. They followed him till his house. “They started digging details of the family and finally decided to kidnap the only son of the man, who is a businessman by profession. The boy used to play outside the house every day and was friendly by nature,” he said.

The suspects planned the kidnapping and called a juvenile from Palwal whose age is yet to be identified. However, the police said he is nearly the age of the victim.

All five started living in a rented room. Meanwhile, the juvenile befriended the victim and started playing with him. He used to often get him chocolates and chips and used to spend a lot of time with the victim, said the police.

The juvenile allegedly told the victim and his family members that he lost his parents in an accident when he was only two years old, and, since then, he had been living with his uncle who is an auto-rickshaw driver. The uncle used to give them joyrides in the area and the victim become comfortable with them, said the police.

On Wednesday, the victim was playing outside his house, when the juvenile allegedly asked him to come for a ride in the auto-rickshaw. The victim boarded the rickshaw, inside which there were already three people present. The auto was covered with side curtains and two more suspects boarded the auto while they were moving out of the village.

Sangwan said the suspects along with victim drove towards Palwal from Badshahpur in the auto-rickshaw. The victim after a few minutes asked them to drop him home. When they refused, he raised an alarm, after which one of the suspects injected medicine in his arm that made him slip into unconsciousness It took almost two hours to reach the rented house in a colony which was situated at the outskirts, some 58 kilometres from Gurugram.

“The boy woke up late evening but due to the effect of the medicine, went back to sleep. When he woke up on Thursday morning, he raised an alarm but to no avail. The suspects then told him that he had been kidnapped and they would release him only after his father paid them ₹50 lakh,” he said.

The police said the suspects called the father on Wednesday evening and informed him about his missing son.They asked him to wait for their call on Friday.

Meanwhile, the father of the victim complained to the police and shared the mobile number from which he had received the call.

Before they could make another call, the police nabbed two of the suspects from Mathura and they led the police to the house where the child was kept.

KK Rao, commissioner of police, on Wednesday evening formed a special investigation team, led by Sangwan, and three crime units were given the task to rescue the boy. “Teams were sent to UP and Palwal and the spot was identified by Friday afternoon. The kidnappers sensed the police presence and three of them fled from the spot before police could enter the house,” he said.

The boy was rescued unhurt and was handed over to the family members on Friday night.

During questioning, the suspects revealed that they targeted the Class 4 student as his father drove an Innova car and seemed to have a good business. They had also learned that he had recently received a big payment and it was kept at home, said the police.

The arrested persons have been identified as Dharambeer and Vishnu of village Khayra in Mathura in UP. They were taken on one-day police remand on Friday.

The police said one of the suspects is a distant relative of man arrested in April 2013 for allegedly kidnapping a four-year-old boy from Eldeco Mansions on Sohna Road.