UP: STF, Gonda Police rescue kidnapped boy within 15 hours

LUCKNOW: The special task force (STF) and Gonda Police rescued an eight-year-old kidnapped son of a gutka trader within 15 hours in the Colonelganj area of the district on Saturday. Five persons, including a woman, were arrested following an encounter when criminals were trying to shift their location. The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs 4 crore.
The police also recovered the car which was used by the miscreants for abduction of Om.Ten teams had been formed to crack the case. Investigations into the kidnapping gained momentum when ADG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar drove down to Gonda on Friday night to supervise the operation on ground.
Kumar said that an informer had tipped off police that kidnappers were changing their location in Gonda itself.
“Our teams immediately laid a trap near Bahadgram and spotted the kidnappers in a car,” he said. The driver of the car was asked to stop for checking but its occupants opened fire.
In retaliation, the STF and Gonda police fired back during which two of the kidnappers — Umesh Yadav and Deepu Kashyap — sustained injuries while three others — Suraj Pandey, his brother Raj Pandey and his wife Chhavi Pandey — were arrested. Later, cops recovered the boy from the car and seized it along with a 0.32 bore pistol, two country made weapons and a mobile phone used in the crime.
The abductors had demanded a ransom of Rs 4 crore after getting to know that the boy’s father was a big trader of gutka and bidi. They did not manhandle the boy in their captivity.
Gonda superintendent of Police Raj Karan Nayyar told TOI that combing operation to nab other associates of the gang was under way. “We got leads from the CCTV footage which had captured the gang members and also the car. The location of the mobile numbers from where calls were made also helped us to zero in on them,” he said.
Nayyar also said that barring Suraj Pandey, who had a theft case registered against his name, none of the other accused had any criminal record.
“During interrogation, the five disclosed that they had heard from locals that Om’s father Harikumar Gupta had acquired property and was also planning to open a big shop in Colonelganj, where Raja Pandey also owned a small kiosk,” he said.
The officer also said that police teams were still working on the case and trying to trace the person whose SIM card was used to make ransom calls to the trader.
Meanwhile, soon after the workout and recovery of Om, the entire village of Gadi Bazaar erupted in joy. His father Harikumar was so overjoyed that he started crying in front of media persons and said that “Police were like God to me. All the officers kept in touch and also assured us not to worry,” he said.
UP government has awarded the STF and the Gonda police Rs 1 lakh each for the successful recovery.
As per the FIR was lodged by the boy’s uncle, Vinod Gupta, at Colonelganj police station, around 1.25 pm on Friday, two men came to their locality posing as health department workers from Delhi and that they were distributing face masks and sanitisers.
They had asked the boy and his brother, who were with their grandmother, Vindeshwari, to come near their parked car and take the masks and sanitizers. The elder boy had walked away with the men and did not return. He was driven away by his kidnappers.
Later in the evening, the family got calls from two different numbers for a ransom amount of Rs 4 crore. The CCTV footage which showed the boy being accompanied by captors in front of his house helped police identify the kidnappers and their vehicle.