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| De Nobili School, Digwadih |
Dhanbad, Oct. 9: An eight-year-old boy was abducted from near his school in Digwadih this afternoon.
The kidnapper has demanded a ransom of Rs 5 lakh from Atif Mustafa’s father, who is a train driver.
Sources said that Atif, a Class II student of De Nobili School, Digwadih, might have been picked up when he was walking to the Nalanda gate of the Digwadih campus of CIMFR, where the school bus was waiting to take him home, around 1.45pm.
The students have to cover the 1km road between the school and the Nalanda gate on foot to board buses, as boulders lie scattered on the main road near the school building, thus blocking the way.
However, some teachers claimed that Atif went missing from school after the 6th period, when he had gone out for toilet.
Soon after the abduction, Atif’s father Gulam Mustafa, a resident of Patherdih Masjid Mohalla, received the ransom call on his mobile phone. The kidnapper had called twice, claiming that Atif was in his possession and demanded Rs 5 lakh.
Mustafa’s mobile phone records showed that the kidnapper had called from different places — once from Jharia and the second time from Patherdih.
The police have launched an intensive search operation and interrogated four persons — owners of the telephone booths from where the kidnapper had made the calls.
Raids were also conducted at Patherdih and Jharia. Dhanbad superintendent of police Manoj Kaushik supervised the operation. Two of Atif’s friends and their parents were also questioned.
When contacted, deputy superintendent of police (law and order) Sanjay Ranjan Singh said that investigation was on and that the kidnapper would be arrested soon.