Three men were arrested for allegedly kidnapping a five-year-old boy and demanding a ransom of Rs 10 lakh for his release, the police said today.
The child was safely rescued and reunited with his family, they added.
The accused planned to kidnap the child since he was the only son among six sisters and was the most pampered one, the police said.
On September 7, the boy's father approached the Ranhola police station in outer Delhi with a complaint that his son had been missing for some time now.
He also expressed suspicion about his two tenants, Surender (19) and his cousin Sunil (25), being involved in the crime since they had also been missing ever since the boy had not been seen.
The police scanned the CCTV footage in the nearby areas and saw the child walking hand-in-hand with the accused.
The mobile phones of the accused were put on surveillance and it was found that they are somewhere in Ludhiana, Punjab. The relatives of the accused were also questioned and the accused were contacted by one of their relatives, the police said.
However, they gave a wrong address to their relative. Meanwhile, the boy's father also made attempts to contact the accused and was able to talk to Surender, who demanded Rs 10 lakh for the child's release, they added.
Yesterday, a police team conducted a raid in Raj Guru Nagar Extension, Ludhiana and rescued the child and also arrested three persons, said Pankaj Kumar Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer).
The child was friendly with the accused and had gone with them when they took him out on the pretext of taking a stroll, the police said.
Later, when they boarded a train, the child started crying. The child told the police that the accused slapped him when he started crying and while he was there with them, they only fed him biscuits.
During interrogation, it was found that Surender, his cousin Sunil and the third accused Ashish (22) had done flooring work in the complainant's house in August and became friendly with the child, said the DCP.
As part of their plan to kidnap the child, Surender and Sunil started staying in the complainant's house as tenants two months ago, the police said.
The accused had plans to flee to their native Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh. However, before they could flee, the police nabbed them.
They had purchased a plot of land in their hometown but were still short of money and that made them hatch the plan to kidnap the boy.
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