Bhubaneswar, Aug. 2: Three persons were arrested today for allegedly trying to abduct a student from the Utkal University campus yesterday evening.

Cops are trying to ascertain the claim of the accused that their intention was not to kidnap the student. They said they were acting on behalf of a man from Bhilai, who had a "close relationship" with the victim and wanted to know about his well-being.

The accused have been identified as Rabi Sharma, 42, Saroj Kumar Kamelia, 30, and Jitendra Sahu, 23. The three claimed to be working with a news portal in Bhubaneswar. Sharma hails from Bhilai.

The inspector in charge of Saheed Nagar police station, K.C Mund, said the accused reached the boy's hostel on the university campus last night in two vehicles, one of which was a Bolero. "They asked the student to accompany them, saying his relatives were waiting for him outside the campus. When the student refused to follow them, an argument ensued. The ruckus attracted the attention of other students in the hostel, who caught hold of the three men," said Mund. The vehicles used in the crime have been seized.

During interrogation, the accused said a man from Bhilai had had an intimate relationship with the student for the past 18 months. The student was born and raised in the Chhattisgarh town.

"The accused told us that the parents of the student decided to send him to Utkal University. But the man from Bhilai was desperately trying to track him down. When he managed to trace him to Bhubaneswar, he sent the three men to enquire about his well being," said a police official. However, the police official refused to divulge the name of the man from Bhilai.