Mumbai : Ghatkopar police were able to rescue a minor who was kidnapped from outside his school, within a few hours of the abduction.
The incident occurred on January 6 when the victim, a six-year-old boy, left school and was kidnapped within 15 minutes. A resident of Ghatkopar, the boy’s parents used to drop and pick him up but when his mother reached the school premises on Wednesday, she did not find her son waiting for her. The worried mother’s quick search revealed that the boy was nowhere to be found around the school.
Within the same hour, the boy’s father received a call from a person who claimed to have kidnapped his son. “The caller informed the father that he would release the boy only if he paid a ransom of Rs 2 lakh. He also threatened to kill the boy if the demand was not met,”said a police officer.
The police suspected something fishy because the kidnapper did not seem to know occupation of the boy’s father. “The boy’s father is an autorickshaw driver. For him to be able to arrange Rs 2 lakh would be very difficult. We realised the accused was an amateur and decided to lay a trap to arrest him,” informed Yakub Mulla, Police Inspector, Ghatkopar police station.
The police then laid a trap to catch the accused and asked the father to tell him that he would pay the ransom amount. They decided to meet near Vidyavihar railway station in a few hours.
“The kidnapper came to the station with the boy to collect the ransom amount. When the father identified the boy, we carefully surrounded the kidnapper and rescued the boy,” Mulla added. The accused has been identified as Umesh Bhagwat (32), a resident of Kurla.
After speaking to the boy, the police could piece together the incident better. They informed that the boy was waiting outside the school gate since no one had come to pick him up. Bhagwat who was loitering around, saw the boy and started talking to him. After finding the boy talkative and unaccompanied, he lured him away from the school premises and then kidnapped him.
“He got the number of the boy’s parents from the school identification card and then called him with the ransom demand,” said a senior police officer. Bhagwat has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
