Balurghat, Aug. 11: Police and residents of Kushmandi today rescued a teenager after chasing down a sports utility vehicle in which three youths were trying to kidnap her.

While the police were in a van, the residents were chasing the SUV on three-four motorcycles. The youths have been arrested.

Sunita Sarkar (name changed), a student of Class VII, was on her way to Mongolpur High School when the three youths forced her into the Bolero in which they were travelling.

The girl jostled with them and started screaming. Her cries for help alerted her schoolmates and the local people. Around 10 men got on motorcycles and followed the Bolero.

By then, the school authorities had informed the Kushmandi police station, which alerted all the roadside police camps. A team of officers from the police station gave chase to the SUV on the road to Kaliaganj.

The motorcycles and the police van managed to stop the Bolero near Pansila More after a 10km chase.

The inspector-in-charge of the Kushmandi police station, Amitabha Chanda, said Rakesh Saha, a local youth, had masterminded the kidnap. “He has been arrested. Two of his associates, Biltu Ghosh, the driver of the Bolero, and Biswajit Dutta, a friend of Rakesh, have also been taken into custody,” said Chanda. The Bolero has been seized.

Sunita’s father, who runs a grocery shop in Kushmandi, said Rakesh had been harassing the girl for quite some time. “This is one reason why I got my daughter transferred from Kushmandi High School to Mongolpur High School. But that did not stop Rakesh from disturbing her. He recently proposed marriage to my daughter. She refused. From that time on, Rakesh must have been planning to kidnap her,” the father claimed.

Rakesh, 30, is the unemployed son of businessman Sampad Saha. “I cannot comprehend how my son could do such a thing. Now, I won’t be able to show my face to people,” Saha said.

During interrogation, Rajesh revealed that he had hired the SUV from Buniyadpur and had planned to flee to Siliguri with the girl. The plan was to take the less-travelled road to Kaliaganj before getting on the highway to Siliguri.

“We shall also interrogate the owner of the car who lives in Buniyadpur to know if he was aware of the plan,” the inspector-in-charge said.