Doctor kidnaps his own son

A few hours after the nine-month-old's grandfather refused to tell the judge his whereabouts, the infant was dramatically produced in the court

Doctor kidnaps his own son

A few hours after the nine-month-old's grandfather refused to tell the judge his whereabouts, the infant was dramatically produced in the court

More than 60 hours after the abduction of nine-month-old Khusab by his own father and grandfather, the baby was dramatically produced in the court on Monday. The chief judicial magistrate (CJM) court then handed over the child to his mother. The police also arrested the accused, Devender Singh, and his father Himmat Singh, who were sent to three-day police remand. Devender is an MBBS doctor posted in a government hospital in Haryana's Jhajjar district.

Family matters: The accused, Devender Singh

The plan
Devender and Himmat, along with some other relatives, kidnapped the infant from the city's Shivaji Nagar area on Friday night. At the time, the baby's mother Ritu was on an evening walk with the child when the accused allegedly came in an SUV and took him away. A case under Sections 365, 406, 498 and 506 of Indian Penal Code were then registered.

Devender's father Himmat Singh in police custody, in New Delhi on
Monday. Pics/mid-day

Rocky marriage
"Devender and Ritu Raghav got married in 2009 and lived in a rented accommodation in Jhajjar. Their marriage soon ran into rough weather. Last Wednesday, they had a heated argument and Devender told Ritu to get out of the house," said the Investigating Officer. He added, "On 28 September, Ritu came to her parents' house at Shivaji Nagar. Then on September 30, Devender hatched a conspiracy and kidnapped his own infant child, threatening Ritu of dire consequences, if she reported the matter to the police."

Cell phone to rescue
DCP (west) Abhey Singh Rao said, "We put the mobile phones of the accused under surveillance and located him near Heli Mandi, about 30 km away from the district headquarters. They were arrested in the early hours of Monday. The other accused were identified as Ramesh, Ravinder and Umesh. They are yet to be arrested." Devender and Himmat were presented in CJM Jasbir Singh's court. There, Himmat said they would rather go behind the bars than hand over the baby to his mother or police.

After hearing the arguments from both sides, the court granted three-day police remand for the accused. A few hours later, Devender's sister Meva devi dramatically appeared in the court with the kidnapped infant. Then Ritu was also asked to be present in the court, and by the order of the magistrate, Khusab was handed over to her.