Anmol with his mother in Ranchi on Tuesday. (Hardeep Singh)

Ranchi, Sept. 15: A 12-year-old boy went missing from near his Itki Road home and turned up at Ormanjhi zoo in a 21-hour kidnap drama planned and executed by his mother’s former employee.

Police have arrested two aides of main accused Firoz who is absconding.

Angry on being terminated from his job at a tailoring and embroidery shop at Shastri Market, Firoz kidnapped his former employer Sukhvinder Kaur’s son Anmol around 6.30 last evening when the boy went to buy batteries for his toy.

A neighbour said Kaur had fired Firoz in July because he used to neglect his job. “He took a revenge by kidnapping her son.”

People who saw Anmol with Firoz said that the latter did not use force. Instead, he first won the boy’s confidence by paying for the battery and then invited the latter for some refreshment.

Anmol, a Class V student of Guru Nanak Higher Secondary School, did not suspect anything foul because he knew Firoz worked for his widow mother. He was also unaware of the latest development in their business.

When her son did not return for dinner, Kaur lodged a missing diary with the Pandra police at 10pm yesterday. Senior superintendent of police Praveen Kumar said Firoz made his first ransom call for Rs 3 lakh at 11pm last night. He called at least five more times and that helped police track his mobile phone.

This morning, they raided the Putkal Toli area of Lower Bazar police station and picked up one of Firoz’s accomplice, Hafiz. Based on his interrogation, the police reached Birsa Munda Zoological Park in Ormanjhi. Anmol was found in the park with a third member of the gang, Irfan, who was arrested.

Kumar said the kidnappers had trimmed the hair of the Sikh boy to conceal his identity. The child had also been given sedatives while he was taken to some undisclosed location last night.

Police said they were hunting for Firoz.

Talking to The Telegraph, Anmol said he went with Firoz because the man promised to treat him in a big restaurant. “I told Firoz to buy me sweets from the local Onkar Hotel, but he insisted I accompany him to some big restaurant,” he said.

Kaur was too happy to get her son back and safe to say anything more.