The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police on Tuesday, 6 February, rescued a five-year-old boy, who was kidnapped in broad daylight by two armed men on a bike late last month, from Ghaziabad. While one of the kidnappers was shot dead in a shootout, two others have been arrested by the police.
The police reportedly was on the lookout for the gang of three, after the boy’s parents receive a phone call on 28 January, demanding a ransom of Rs 50 lakh. Locked in a fifth-floor flat of an apartment complex in Ghaziabad, the boy remained in the custody of the kidnappers for over ten days.
According to NDTV, the police raided the flat at around 1 am, early Tuesday morning, resulting in a shootout between the two parties after the kidnappers initiated gunfire.
Speaking to ANI, the child’s grandfather thanked the police and said:
We got to know at 1 o’clock at night that our child has been found. We went to GTB and he was handed over to us. Doctor said that he needs rest.
The Build-Up to the Take Down
The police had been closely tracking the movements of the three accused, but not all flowed as smoothly as it seems to have.
According to a Times of India report, the police initially had several hits-and-misses, taking 12 days to finally zero in on the three accused.
The kidnappers had decided to lay low after the crime for two days, resurfacing only on 28 January, when they made the ransom call for Rs 50 lakh. Sources told the daily that though the crime appeared to have been carried out with finesse, the accused themselves were first-timers.
The ransom call was reportedly made by a woman, and minutes after the call, he SIM card of the phone was discarded.
A police officer told TOI that the kidnappers had stolen three phones in the run-up to the crime.
After the ransom call, the kidnappers sent a video of the child, through WhatsApp. Here on, the accused used two different numbers to reiterate their demands, reported TOI.
While the cops were unable to trace the location of the accused as they were communicating only through WhatsApp. The Special Cell however, managed to crack the case with some inputs, narrowing the suspect list to over a dozen persons.
From here, the Crime Branch delivered two numbers which were being used by the kidnappers.
Tracing the numbers, the police conducted a recce in Shalimar city to locate the suspects by posing as salesmen and students.
On 5 February, the kidnappers placed another call, this time to specify the location where the money was to be exchanged – C-River mall. By then, the police had also reportedly obtained photographs of the accused, and were tracking their movements closely. By evening, the police department had chalked out a plan to take down the accused and rescue the five-year-old.
The child had been kidnapped from Delhi’s Dilshad Garden a day ahead of Republic Day, when two bike-borne assailants stopped his school bus and abducted him. While one of the kidnappers trained his gun on the driver, another took the child away from the clutches of his elder sister. When the driver attempted to resist the crime, the assailant shot at his leg, fleeing with his aide and the child.
The case drew sharp criticism and shock for having occurred in the national capital despite tight security in light of Republic Day celebrations, for which 10 ASEAN leaders had been invited as the guests of honour.
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