Three friends were sentenced to life imprisonment on Monday by Bokaro additional sessions judge R.S. Upadhyay for kidnapping a neighbourhood boy for ransom six years ago.

Bokaro residents Santosh Kumar Paswan, Santosh Kumar Singh and Nitish Vats were convicted under Section 364A of the Indian Penal Code, which awards death or life imprisonment to those who abduct and threaten to murder or hurt their hostage.

Then in their 20s, Paswan, Singh and Vats had kidnapped their Sector IIC neighbour's son, then an 11-year-old studying in Class VI in a reputable school, on May 21, 2010, hoping to get a fat ransom.

The victim, who used to address the trio as uncles, had accompanied them willingly to a car when they told him they wanted to buy him a chocolate bar for "being a good boy".

Bundling the boy in the four-wheeler, the trio had sped to Lakhipur, Sitarampur, in Bengal's Burdwan district, and demanded Rs 8 lakh as ransom from the boy's father Rajesh Prasad, then a Bokaro Steel Limited executive. The trio repeatedly threatened killing the boy if their demand was not met.

After much negotiations, the father brought the deal down to Rs 1.75 lakh but at the same time informed then Bokaro SP Saket Singh.

On May 24, three days after the kidnap, the trio was caught red-handed by plainclothes policemen when Prasad went to give them the ransom at Asansol railway station.

The traumatised boy was reunited with his father while the trio were sent to Chas jail. But, six months later in the same year, when the three were released on bail, Prasad became so concerned about his son's safety that he left Bokaro to settle in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, with his family.

The case went on for six long years in which, apart from the trio, glare came on two more persons, Tamanna Devi, in whose house the boy was kept in Bengal, and Sukun Dikshit, who guarded the victim. In 2010, when the police nabbed the trio, Devi and Dikshit had managed to escape.

Last known, Devi is no more. Dikshit is still on the run.

Government lawyer R.K. Rai said Prasad had no idea that his neighbours would kidnap his son and subject him to threats.

After Monday's judgment, Prasad, speaking over phone from Bhilai, thanked the judge for the life term to the three criminals.

"I am thankful to god and the judge. Though I'd wanted death sentence for their crime, I am satisfied with this judgment," Prasad said.