Raiganj, Nov. 6: A seven-year-old boy was rescued by police hours after he was kidnapped allegedly by a former business partner of his father in a North Dinajpur village today.

The alleged kidnapper, Jenardi Sheikh, was arrested this afternoon.

Nodo Sarkar, a Class III student, was taken away by motorcycle-borne Sheikh and his son when the boy was on his way to school at Vitol, 30km from here.

Joy Das, a witness, said the boy’s father, Biswa Sarkar, and Sheikh were business partners for long. They had fallen out recently, but the boy knew Sheikh well.

“So we did not find anything unnatural when the boy was taken away by Sheikh.” But within an hour, Sarkar came running to the school, complaining that his son had been kidnapped, Das said.

Sarkar said: “Sheikh had called me up after the kidnap and threatened to kill my son if I failed to pay a ransom of Rs 60,000.”

According to Das, Sarkar owed Rs 60,000 to Sheikh after their business collapsed about seven months ago but promised to pay within two months in a salishi. Sarkar claimed that he had paid the money according to the agreement.

Sujit Ghosh, the inspector-in-charge of Raiganj police station, said soon after they received a complaint from Sarkar, they swung into action.

The police came to know that the boy had been taken to the other side of the Nagar river. They confirmed it after talking to the boatmen. A team was sent across the river and raided a few places including a house of a relative of Sheikh but did not found him there.

“Finally, Sheikh was spotted in a tea stall at Pukurighat village. When he saw us, he abandoned the boy and tried to flee on his motorcycle. But we gave him chase and caught him. We rescued the boy unharmed. Now are looking for Sheikh’s son,” Ghosh said.