Shaktisinh Jhal

Ahmedabad, May 13: The teenaged son of a rich landlord was killed after being kidnapped for ransom at Sanand, where his father cashed in on the land boom following the Nano project.

The body of 16-year-old Shaktisinh Jhala, who had appeared for his Class X examinations, was found with injury marks in a well at Goraj gam (village) in the satellite township of Sanand, 35km from Ahmedabad, where land prices have soared after the Tata small-car project was relocated from Bengal’s Singur.

Sunil, a classmate of Shakti at New Era High School in Sanand, has been arrested for abetting the murder. Police claimed Sunil has confessed to his role in the abduction but has denied having any hand in the killing, the first such in Gujarat’s fastest growing industrial township.

Shakti’s father Dilipsinh Jhala owns over 400 bighas in Sanand. A mobile shop owner, he also works as a land agent. In less than 18 months, land prices there have gone up nearly four fold: a bigha now costs Rs 1 crore, when earlier it sold for Rs 20 lakh to Rs 25 lakh.

Ahmedabad superintendent of police Sandeep Singh said the mastermind of the kidnap plot was 25-year-old Dilawar from Vadodara. He has been arrested and is being brought to Ahmedabad.

The police said the actual killing was carried out by two Sanand youths: Pranav Patel and Ashif Alaharakhha, who owns a shop selling mobile phones and accessories. The men, in their 20s, are missing.

Shakti was kidnapped on Tuesday night, but the family informed the police on Wednesday evening after the abductors demanded a ransom of Rs 2 crore.

The family told the police that around 9pm on Tuesday, Shakti left home after getting a call. He told his parents he was going to meet his friend Sunil. The family waited through the night for Shakti to return but he did not. The next morning, they contacted Sunil, who claimed he had not called Shakti, the police said.

Yesterday evening, Shakti’s grandfather Manubha Jhala, a rich farmer and prominent land agent in Sanand, received a call demanding Rs 2 crore in exchange for the boy’s freedom, following which he informed the police.

Sunil told the police the kidnappers panicked when Manubha did not contact them after receiving the ransom call. “They decided to kill the boy,” investigating officer M.M. Jhala quoted Sunil as saying.

Sunil told his interrogators that Pranav had asked him to call Shakti. “He (Sunil) was aware of their plan to kidnap Shakti and then demand ransom from his wealthy parents. Sunil was to get his share of money,” the investigating officer said.