Quick thinking by a trader and the brave alertness shown by his 12-year-old son led to the arrest of an alleged member of a gang of kidnappers here and the foiling of their plan to abduct the former's family, police said.
According to police, the incident took place in the wee hours yesterday as an alleged gang of kidnappers intercepted the vehicle in which the trader from Bareli was travelling along with his family.
"Taufiq, a resident of Hathia village under Barsana police station, was nabbed but his associates -- Ikram, Sahun and Taleem, also from Hathia -- managed to give police the slip under the cover of darkness," said SP (City) Shailesh Pandey.
Giving details of the case, he said that Deepak Gupta, a trader from Bareli, was returning to his hometown along with his wife and two children following a trip to the Mehandipur Bala Ji (Rajasthan) shrine in Rajasthan when their car was intercepted by the gang near Saiyad on the Mathura Aligharh road in the Jamuna Paar police station area.
The kidnappers forced Gupta family's car to brake and they thereupon pulled the driver out of the vehicle.
"While the driver was forced to board the kidnappers' car, one of the kidnappers sat in the driver's seat in the trader's car while two other kidnappers pulled a mask over Gupta's face. Both cars thenproceeded towards Hathia village," said Pandey.
It was when Gupta, who was sitting in the front seat, saw a police patrol near Krishnapuri in the Sadar Bazar police station area that he suddenly switched off the car.
Just then his son, Varun, who was in the back seat with his mother opened the door and rushed towards the police personnel, Pandey said.
This made the kidnappers panic and set them scrambling but not before Taufiq was nabbed by police.
The kidnappers had, meanwhile, snatched Rs 40,000 in cash, four rings, four mobile phones, ATM cards, etc., from the family.
"We were saved owing to my son Varun and the police posted at Krishnapuri crossing," said Gupta.
