Calcutta/Krishnagar, April 11: A 52-year-old private tutor allegedly pushed his five-year-old daughter off a hill in Rajgir, abandoned his 13-year-old son and travelled to Mayapur to live with a student less than half his age, posing as man and wife.

Police last night picked up Somnath Dawn, a resident of Batakrishna Dutta Lane in the Jorabagan area of Calcutta, and his 19-year-old girl student from a house they had rented in Mayapur over a week ago. Somnath was arrested on charges of kidnapping the girl.

Her mother Shubhra Dey, a resident of Beniatola, also in Jorabagan, had lodged a police complaint.

Deputy commissioner of the city police, north, Barun Mallik said: ?We had been looking for them for over a fortnight. Teams had been sent to several places?.? Somnath and the girl were found taking a stroll near the Krishna temple in Mayapur, 100 km from Calcutta, last evening.

The tutor, who has a physically challenged wife, took the student and his two children on a holiday to Rajgir on March 7. The girl?s parents had little to suspect as she was travelling with her teacher and his children.

They had the first sniff of foul play when Somnath?s son Soumyajit returned home on March 22, speaking incoherently and unable to say where his father and his student had gone. The girl?s mother lodged the complaint on March 23, accusing the tutor of kidnapping her.

The police questioned the boy and learnt that his father brought him home and then went off again. But he could not clearly say what had become of his sister, Shomasree.

The probe began immediately after the complaint was filed and searches were carried out at places frequented by couples. ?We looked for them at Digha, Behrampore, Tarapith and Mayapur. We alerted our counterparts in the districts and gave them descriptions of Somnath and the girl. We received a tip-off from Nabadwip police that they had found a couple matching our description,? said an officer.

The duo rented the room in the house of Mukul Mondal. ?As a couple, they looked odd, but I did not doubt as they remained calm and quiet,? he said. Nadia additional superintendent of police Biswarup Ghosh said they were looking for jobs and the Iskcon temple was on their mind.

The police in Calcutta said Somnath has confessed to pushing his daughter off a cliff. Detective department deputy commissioner Gyanwant Singh said a team would soon leave for Rajgir to trace Shomasree.