Kolhapur: Constable among three held for nephew's abduction

KOLHAPUR: Sangli police arrested three persons, including a police constable, in connection with kidnapping of a 10-year-old boy from Islampur. The boy was allegedly kidnapped for extorting money, a police investigation revealed.
Varad Balasaheb Khamkar, a fifth standard student, was kidnapped on Monday evening from Islampur in Sangli district. The police constable arrested in this connection is his uncle, his mother's brother.Police are looking for a fourth accomplice.
The 10-year-old would go for tuitions every day as he was taking entrance examinations for admission to Navoday Vidyalaya. His father, a librarian in a school, would drop him off at his tuition classes and return to pick him up. On Monday, as his father Balasaheb waited to pick him up, he was informed that the boy had already gone home.
The father returned home, but found his son missing. The family started to search for him. The boy's friends informed the family that Varad had gone off in a white car after class. The father then filed a complaint.
Police found the number of the white car as MH 15 8543. The man in the car had called the boy by name and appeared to be acquainted with him, the boy's friends said. This made police suspect about a family. member .
The main conspirator, Sunil Kadam, is a constable at Gadhinglaj police station in Kolhapur district.
His accomplices, Gopal Hirappa Gadadaki (22) and Vilas Varai (20), were also arrested. Police are looking for their fourth accomplice.
Sangli DYSP Krishnat Pingle told that Varad was taken to a lodge on the national highway. The men had told the boy that his father wanted to talk to him over their mobile phone. The boy was detained in the lodge and not even given food to eat or water to drink, police said.
What was surprising is that the main conspirator was also "aiding" the police investigation in this case. When police spoke with the family, they grew suspicious of Sunil Kadam, who at one stage began to fear that he had been found and asked his accomplices to release the boy.
Gopal Gadadaki and Vilas Varai dropped Varad at Shiye Phata on the national highway at 12.30 pm on Tuesday. The man then ran away. The boy waited at the highway for someone to offer him a ride back home. A family that was on its way to Sangli stopped on seeing the boy and learning his story, called his father. Police and the boy's family rushed to the spot to take the boy home.
The boy's uncle confessed to his involvement in the crime and police have booked him in this case.