Chhapra, June 24: Saran police today rescued a 10-year-old boy, three days after he was kidnapped from Tajpur village under Janta Bazar police station.
Four persons, including a cousin of the victim, were arrested for hatching the conspiracy and committing the crime.
Superintendent of police (SP) A.K. Satyarthi said the child, Sonu Kumar, was traced based on the information given by the cousin, Rajesh Chauhan, during interrogation.
Sonu had gone to Tajpur village with his mother to attend a marriage ceremony of some relative. According to SP Satyarthi, Rajesh, along with his brother-in-law Raj Kumar Mahto, hatched the plan to kidnap Sonu for ransom. Four others — Ravindra Chauhan, Navin Singh, Satish Pandey and Mahanth Yadav — joined them.
Rajesh met Sonu on June 21 and lured him with dates to come with him to a field. When they reached the field, Navin and Ravindra were already waiting for them on a motorbike. They took Sonu along saying his father has sent money through courier. The three reached Kopa station where Raj Kumar, Satish and Mahanth joined them.
As soon as the family came to know about Sonu’s abduction, his father Sharma Chauhan, who works as raj mistry in Delhi, rushed back home. The family received calls demanding a ransom of Rs 5 lakh.
Satyarthi said Sonu’s father, his uncle and Rajesh came to the police to lodge the complaint. Activities of Rajesh made the police suspicious and they interrogated him for three hours, following which he confessed to the crime. A police team, including three DSPs, 12 station in-charges, worked overnight and traced the boy today morning.
Four persons — Rajesh Chauhan, Satish, Mahanth and Nirmala Devi — have been arrested. Nirmala Devi is the mother of Mahanth Yadav and she kept Sonu at her house for one night, the SP said. Two accused — Raj Kumar and Navin — are still absconding.
Sonu told the police the kidnappers threatened him that if the money was not paid by his father they would shoot him.
Sonu’s father said he did not understand why his relatives kidnapped his son. He said that he had no enmity with any person. “I am not a millionaire but a simple raj mistry who is hand to mouth. I fail to understand why my son was abducted,” said Sharma.
