Kidnapped minor boy rescued after encounter in Ghaziabad, five arrested

A three-and-a-half-year-old kidnapped boy was rescued after a brief encounter between police and the kidnappers, one of them a neighbour of the victim, in the Loni area here in Ghaziabad.

Five persons-Sachin Kumar, Manjoor Alam, Deepak, Chotu and Gaurav-were last night arrested for kidnapping Shobhit, son of a businessman, on January 28, police said on Saturday.

Deepak, a history-sheeter, was the mastermind of the kidnapping. He has served a jail term of 17 months for attempting to murder a man, they said.

On January 28, Rajjan Lal, a businessman who deals in electrical products, registered a missing complaint about his son Shobhit at the Loni police station, saying that he was kidnapped while playing outside his house.

After kidnapping Shobhit, accused had made ransom calls to Rajjan Lal demanding Rs 30 lakh for the safe release of his son.

"We got lead in the case when the accused made a ransom call to Shobhit's father. On January 28, Deepak called up Rajjan Lal and demanded Rs 30 lakh in the evening, threatening him that if he informed the police, his son would be killed.

However, Rajjan informed police about the call. Accused also made a ransom call on January 31," said a senior police official.

The numbers from which the accused made the calls were put on surveillance and their location was last night traced to near Laxmi City Road, he said.

A police team was sent there. All five accused were arrested after an exchange of fire between them and the team. Later, police managed to rescue Shobhit from their clutches, the official added.

"Chotu and Deepak are close friends. Six months ago, Chotu told Deepak that his neighbour Rajjan Lal was a businessman and if his son was kidnapped, they could get a handsome money. Later, Deepak involved his friends Sachin, Manjoor and Gaurav and planned to kidnap Shobhit.

"On January 28, when Shobhit was playing outside his house in the evening, they kidnapped him," the official added.

Sachin and Manjoor are residents of Delhi, while the other accused are residents of Ghaziabad, police said.