Of the Rs85 lakh ransom amount delivered to the kidnappers at the appointed place in Anand, the accused escaped with Rs2 lakh while the police recovered Rs83 lakh.
In a sensational kidnapping case, a nine-year-old schoolgirl was abducted at gunpoint from her school van early on Tuesday morning. But thanks to the co-ordinated efforts of the city police, the girl was rescued from Petlad in the afternoon.
The successful rescue came not before the police used its trap to allow the parents of the girl to pay the ransom money to the four kidnappers. Of the Rs85 lakh ransom amount delivered to the kidnappers at the appointed place in Anand, the accused escaped with Rs2 lakh while the police recovered Rs83 lakh.
Nine-year-old Dhruvi Patel, studying in class IV at Swastik Shishuvihar, was kidnapped from near Cambay Hotel, off SG Highway near Sola, around 6:30 am on Tuesday. She was going to her school in the school van.
The van driver, Alkesh Kandhar, told the police that the girl was kidnapped at gunpoint. Soon police swung into action. The city police and crime branch, along with Anand and Kheda police, put themselves on their toes to track down the kidnappers.
Joint commissioner of police (Sector 1) Satish Sharma told reporters on Tuesday night that the kidnappers escaped in a Mahindra Scorpio after releasing the girl at Petlad. He, however, said they would be arrested soon.
“They tried to run away when they saw a police nakabandi on the road. The police tried to nab them, but they escaped with some cash,” Sharma said.
Unconfirmed sources, however, said that two of the four kidnappers were nabbed by the Petlad police. They also said that the remaining two would be nabbed soon.
According to police, the four kidnappers came in a Maruti Esteem car to kidnap Dhruvi. Their motive was to demand ransom from her father Manish Patel, a builder. Patel had constructed several lavish bungalows in the city. He lives in Sun Villa Bungalows on Bopal-Shilaj Road.
The kidnappers made the first call around 7 am followed by several other calls to finalise the ransom amount. They initially asked for Rs2 crore but finally agreed with Rs85 lakh. The kidnappers also told the parents of the girl about the place where the money was to be delivered.
The crime branch, which was working hard on the case from the morning, got the first lead in its investigation when the kidnappers' location was traced to Aslali on the outskirts of the city. The location was soon traced to Kheda and later Anand.
Tracking of their location revealed that the kidnappers were moving close to Ahmedabad-Vadodara Express Highway. The city police, which was working in close co-ordination with Kheda and Anand police, ordered nakabandi across the state to check the kidnappers' movement.
At the same time, the police also instructed the parents of the girl to agree to the kidnappers' demand and proceed as they wanted. The police trap was such that they would nab the kidnappers once the girl was rescued after the payment of the ransom. That, however, did not happen exactly. The girl was rescued, but the kidnappers managed to give the police the slip, not before hitting a cyclist at Petlad.
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