Police busted a gang on Thursday night, thwarting the abduction of an eight-year-old boy. The gang members included Shams Tarwez (25), Sandeep (28) and their associates.

The gang led by Shams had planned to abduct Ayush Kumar, a Class III student of St Michael's High School. Ayush's family knew Sandeep for some years. Shams had completed his mechanical engineering from a private college in Chennai in 2016.

Ayush's father Vidyasagar Choudhary, an engineer in the public works department (PWD), said: "I knew Sandeep for some years as he happens to be a neighbour of my father-in-law. On July 9, Sandeep called me to say some gangs were after my son and that they were planning to kidnap him. I asked Sandeep why any criminals will kidnap my son as I come from a middle-class family."

However, after some time Sandeep again made a call to Choudhary asking him to meet Shams alias Bholi if he wanted to save his child.

Getting suspicious, Choudhary informed the police. The police, which had some inputs about criminals planning to kill one of the owners of a Haldiram outlet in Patna, started gathering details about the gang. Based on call details between Sandeep and Shams and intelligence inputs, the police came to know that it was the same gang which was planning to kidnap Ayush.

Patna SSP Manu Maharaaj said: "A team led by Patna SP (west) Ravindra Kumar was constituted. The team, based on intelligence inputs, conducted a raid and arrested Bholi and seven other persons from the Danapur area. The gang was also in contact with some criminals lodged at Beur Central Jail and Gaya Central Jail."

Ayush said: "I thank the Patna police."

Shams comes from a middle-class family, his father Mohammed Ahsan Mallick has retired from the Central Water Commission (CWC). Sources said Shams took to crime as he could not land a job. After coming back to Patna from Chennai, Shams came in contact with Vicky Kumar alias Vicky Baba, a criminal in the Gardanibagh-Anishabad area. Apart from planning to kill the Haldiram outlet owner and kidnap Ayush, the criminals had also planned to kill a woman gold trader, and loot a hardware shop on Jagdeo Path and an electricity board office in Phulwarisharif.

The gang was also involved in several criminal incidents in the past, including the murder of a drug trader on GM Road in Patna, a bank loot in Gaya and others. The gang was in contact with several criminals in Bihar and Jharkhand. The police recovered four country-made pistol, nine cartridges, three motorcycles and smack (heroin) worth more than Rs 10 lakh and other items.