A security guard has been arrested for kidnapping a three-and-a-half-year-old boy and demanding a ransom of Rs 50,000. Malad police, which solved the case and nabbed the accused within 17 hours, said the accused allegedly committed the crime to arrange for money for his wedding.

As per sources, Mukesh Jaipal Singh, 27, had been working as a security guard at the Nadiadwala Colony no. 1 at Malad West for the past four years and the victim and his parents, both labourers, also lived there. Singh and the victim’s family knew each other and he allegedly gave chocolates to the child often.