Kin abducts minor, held

Kidnappers demanded Rs 20 lakh as ransom; the victim's father was about to make a big land deal

Kin abducts minor, held

Kidnappers demanded Rs 20 lakh as ransom; the victim's father was about to make a big land deal

Six-year-old Prince went missing from his Lal Bagh, Azadpur home on July 11 at 5 pm. The next day, his father Dharamvir reported the matter at Azadpur police station. On an expected note, Dharamvir received a ransom call from kidnappers who demanded Rs 20 lakh.

Trailing Trio: The three accused being escorted to Police
Headquarters; The victim, Prince

The calls kept coming for the next two days, while the desperate father tried to reason with abductors and get them to lower the amount and give him more time.

With his father after being rescued, in New Delhi on Monday. PIC/Rajeev Tyagi

During investigations, police found that a person named Dal Chand was also missing from the locality. They also found out that he had gone to live with his maternal uncle in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh (UP). Dal Chand is a relative of Prince's father Dharamvir and worked with him in a delivery van of a private company in Delhi. Police started zeroing in on him as a suspect in the case, when they came to know that the calls were originating from Etawah.

With this information, a team of Delhi Police with help from local cops zeroed in on the kidnappers with information that Dal Chand was living in the house of Manish, an associate.

"When police raided the place, they found Dal Chand and Prince with another associate, Raj Kishore. One Sanjay Yadav was later arrested from his house after police came to know that he was also involved in making ransom calls," said Meenu Choudhary, DCP (northwest), Delhi.

"Manish was on guard at the house when he saw police from a fair distance and escaped. Cops are still looking for him," she added.

Apparently, Dharamvir had six bighas of land in his village. The plot adjoining Dharamvir's land was being bought by Reliance for Rs 5 lakh per bigha and it is the main reason for Prince's abduction since the miscreants believed the land would fetch a lot of money.