Boy abducted from Kajheri rescued

The accused,identified as Aditya Verma (22),a resident of Phase 11,Mohali,and his cousin Dharmesh Kumar (20),a resident of Nangloi,Delhi,had demanded a ransom of Rs 2 lakh. Dharmesh had recently come to the city for a job.

The plan to kidnap the child was hatched after they overheard him say that his father had kept Rs 2 lakh at home,the police said. The boy used to frequent his father’s juice shop in Motor Market in Kajheri.

After kidnapping the boy,the accused took him to a house they had rented in Phase 9,Mohali,Deputy Superintendent of Police (South) J S Khaira said.

After the family failed to trace the boy,his father Jawahar Gupta informed the police on February 4. Gupta lives in Pandit Colony,Kajheri.

On February 6,Gupta received a ransom call,demanding Rs 10 lakh. After negotiations,the amount was settled at Rs 2 lakh,the police said.

Initially,the accused asked Gupta to deposit the money in a bank account and messaged him the account number. The account was opened in the name of Dharmesh.

Gupta,meanwhile,informed the police,which after tracing their phone call to Phase 9,Mohali,laid a trap.

The accused,on the other hand,revised the plan and asked Gupta to come to Phase 9 at 12.30 am on Saturday night and leave the money in a park in front of a house,the police said.

“They tried to be clever and revealed the number of the house next to the one in which they had held the boy captive. We had already tracked down their location. According to the plan,the boy’s father reached the spot in front of the house mentioned by the accused. After he left the packet there,Aditya came out to take it and he was caught,” Anokh Singh,Station House Officer of the Sector-36 police station,told Newsline.

The SHO said the two were desperate to get the money. Aditya parents are ill and Dharmesh is unemployed. The police are verifying if the accused were involved in other crimes.

The SHO added that the case details were kept secret and the media cooperated by not highlighting the incident,which could have endangered the boy’s life.