Abducted 11-yr-old rescued after five days, three arrested

The Mumbai Crime Branch officers on Monday rescued an 11-year-old boy five days after he was kidnapped, and arrested three men on charges of abduction. The kidnappers had allegedly demanded Rs17 lakh as ransom.The arrested persons have been identified as Pravin Singh, 27, resident of Bandra; Sandeep Singh, 22, resident of Wadala and his brother-in-law Ajay Singh, 20.  Pravin earlier worked as an autorickshaw driver and had recently started a mobile repairing shop in Kandivli.

The boy’s mother works with a BPO, while his father works for an online gaming firm. According to the police, on February 10, the victim left his house in Khar (West) at about 6.45am to go to school. When he did not return home, his parents inquired with school and were told that he had been absent that day. The parents then registered a complaint with the Khar police.“At about 2.45pm, the boy’s father received a call from a PCO from one of the kidnappers demanding Rs17 lakh as ransom,” said Rakesh Maria, joint commissioner of police, crime. Maria said that when the parents said they could only arrange for Rs10lakh, the kidnappers threatened to harm the child.  Acting on a tip-off, a team from the Bandra Unit of the crime branch arrested the trio from a room near Mount Mary Church in Bandra and rescued the boy.The child told the police that he was on his way to school in an auto which Pravin was driving. Suddenly, he slowed down and two men, Sandeep and Ajay, jumped into the vehicle. They covered his face with a chloroform-sodden handkerchief that rendered him unconscious“Whenever the boy would resist, the trio would give him two-three tablets of Trika, an anti-anxiety medication, to put him to sleep,” said Maria. Pravin was the mastermind behind the kidnapping. “He had been losing money in his business. To make a quick buck, he decided to abduct a child and demand money from his parents.”