Crime Patrol: Boy, 11, abducted for Rs 1.5 crore ransom is returned to his family after 12-hour manhunt (Episode 332 on 18 Jan 2014)

The Inside Story

Hours after the 11-year-old son of a garment trader was kidnapped from central Delhi’s Rajinder Nagar area by two property dealers for a ransom of Rs. 1.5 crore, the boy was rescued safely from Haryana’s Rewari by the Delhi Police. While one of the accused, Harpal Singh Sodhi, 42, has been arrested, the alleged mastermind Harpreet Singh is untraceable.Police said Harpreet hatched the plan to kidnap the victim after he came to know that the victim’s family has a huge amount of money in cash to buy a shop in Rajinder Nagar.Known to the victim family for the past six years, Harpreet was talking to the victim’s mother when he came to know about their plan to buy the property.She apparently told him that they had sold off a plot to buy the shop in Rajinder Nagar and have R80 lakh in cash ready for the deal. Alok Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (central), said the matter came to their notice at around 7pm on Saturday, almost 50 minutes after the boy, Harneet, was pulled inside a car metres away from his house.



“Harneet had gone to a nearby shop to get his father’s phone account recharged. But, when he did not return home the family went out in his search,” said Kumar. The family found the mobile cover lying on the road.

At around 6.41 pm, while his family was desperately looking for him, Harneet’s mother, Jaswinder Kaur, received a call on her mobile phone and the caller, who identified himself as Khan, claimed that her son was in his custody.

“The caller threatened her that her son will be shot if they are not paid a ransom of R1.5 crore by 11 am on Sunday. The family immediately informed the police,” said Kumar. The kidnappers made two more calls.



Teams of the central district police swung into action and with the help of technical surveillance traced Harpal to his office in Rajasthan’s Bhiwadi from where he was making the ransom calls using a new SIM card. The police also established that Harpal and Harpreet were both in the same area when the kidnapping took place.



“Harpal was interrogated and at his instance the victim was rescued from Harpreet’s white Maruti Swift car, parked near the Rewari Railway station — 25 km away from Bhiwadi. Harpreet had abandoned the victim and his car, as he somehow got to know that we were coming there,” said Rajesh Deo, additional DCP (central).



Thanks to:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Kidnapped-son-of-city-trader-traced-in-hours/Article1-1088842.aspx

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Boy, 11, abducted for Rs 1.5 crore ransom is returned to his family after 12-hour manhunt



Police on Sunday rescued an 11-year-old boy within twelve hours of him being kidnapped from the city's Rajender Nagar area on Saturday for a ransom of Rs 1.5 crore.

Harneet's father was all praise for Delhi police's efforts after they reunited his son with the family in an unexpectedly short period of time.

Harneet was kidnapped by a property dealer and his associate who came in touch with his family for a property deal of the same amount.

Victim: 11-year-old Harneet, pictured with his mother, was kidnapped by a property dealer and his associate "Harpal Singh Sodhi, who took the boy to Rewari, has been arrested while Harpreet, a Delhi-based property dealer who planned the kidnapping is still at large. He came in touch with the boy's family through a property deal worth Rs 1.5 crore," said Alok Kumar Deputy Commissioner of Police. When while discussing the deal, the accused assumed that the family will be able to shell out such a huge amount of money, he devised a plan to kidnap their son, a police officer said. On Saturday, the police received a call at around 6.55pm about a minor boy being kidnapped from Rajender Nagar.

Arrested: Harpal Singh Sodhi, alleged to be one of the two kidnappers, has been held On inquiring the details from the Harneet's family, they found out that the boy had gone to a nearby shop to buy a recharge coupon for his father but did not come back. Harneet's parents had immediately called the police after they received a call at 6.40 from the kidnappers demanding Rs 1.5 crore ransom from them. In his last call at 11pm, the caller said he will call up on Sunday morning to inform the place of meeting for collecting ransom amount, the police said. When the police questioned the locals they said they had seen some strangers taking Harneet in a white car but were too quick to be stopped.

A good job done: Delhi Police have been praised for their fast work in finding the boy



"Working on the leads provided by the locals and the family members, and following the various ransom calls made by the kidnapper, we tracked the caller's location and traced him in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan.



"A police team was sent to Bhiwadi from where it arrested Sodhi. During interrogation he confessed to making the ransom calls and on his instance the boy was rescued from Rewari railway station about 25km away from Bhiwadi," Kumar added.



A case has been registered against Harpreet and Sodhi under relevant sections of kidnapping for ransom. The police are now looking for Harpreet.



Thanks to:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2357962/Delhi-kidnapping-Boy-11-abducted-Rs-1-5-crore-ransom-returned-family-12-hour-manhunt.html