Bhubaneswar, Aug. 24: Police have started a manhunt to nab two persons who had kidnapped an 18-month-old girl child and demanded Rs 15 lakh as ransom from her parents.

The accused have been identified as Samir Patra, 19, and Rama Moharana, 25, who had been working as carpenters in the house of Malaya Mohapatra, the father of the kidnapped child.

The child was rescued six hours after being kidnapped from a village in Khurda district, but the accused are absconding.

Police said both of them had been working as carpenters for the last one year and had free access to the house of Malaya, who owns a construction company.

“They kidnapped the child around 5pm and rang up her mother demanding a ransom of Rs 15 lakh. They called a few more times and brought down the demand to Rs 8 lakh,” said a police official.

After kidnapping the child from Malaya’s Palasuni house, they took her to Adala village in Khurda district.

However, the activity of both the accused raised suspicion among the villagers and when they started asking them what the matter was, they fled from the spot.

“My wife received a call from an unknown number and the caller said that they had kidnapped our daughter and demanded Rs 15 lakh as ransom. They also threatened to strangulate my daughter if I did not pay the money,” said Malaya.

After the duo abandoned the child, the villagers of Adala immediately informed the matter to the police and handed over her to the cops.

Later, a police team from Bhubaneswar went to the village and took possession of the child.

“Five police teams were on the job to rescue the girl and we were tracking the mobile phone of the accused,” police commissioner R.P. Sharma said.

“The girl has been handed over to her parents. Efforts are on to nab the accused,” the police commissioner said.

The police said the accused had planned the crime for money.

“As both of them were working with the Mohapatra family for the last one year, they were allowed to play with the child and this made it easy for them to execute their plan,” said another senior police official.