Duped of Rs 5 lakh, man kidnaps 5-year-old to extract Rs 20 lakh

NEW DELHI: Having been duped of Rs 5 lakh that he had borrowed to pay a person who had assured him of a government job and in dire straits at having to return the sum, a civil services aspirant took to the expedient of kidnapping a child and asking for a ransom of Rs 20 lakh. The case in north-east Delhi, however, turned out badly for him with the cops closing in on him not too long later.
“After a nine-hour effort, we tracked the man to Dadri and arrested him when he was attempting to flee with the child.The boy was safely returned to the parents,” said Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner (eastern range) on Wednesday.
Five-year-old Azhar was reported missing in Subhash Nagar in Bhajanpura on Tuesday morning. Even as the family was searching for him in the locality, his father received a call from someone called Asif Saidi. “He seemed to be in a hurry and asked us whether our boy was missing,” said Naushad Ali, the boy’s uncle. “Saidi then told us that he knew where our child was and asked us to get Rs 20 lakh for his safe return.” The child’s father and Naushad, who are brothers, have a dairy business, while a third brother runs a school from their house.
Following a complaint at the Bhajanpura police station, a team led by additional DCP R P Meena was given the task of tracking the ransom caller. “We realised that he was constantly on the move,” said Ajit K Singla, DCP (North-east). The kidnapper called again, asking Azhar’s family to come with the money and meet him near a temple. The cops traced the second call to an elderly man in Dadri.
The police team was sent to the location from where the call was made. CCTV footage in the area was scanned and one showed the accused walking with the boy. Even as the cops were perusing the CCTV footage, the family received a third ransom call. It was determined to be emanating from the earlier location and police rushed to the spot to find Saidi boarding an autorickshaw.
Admitting to having kidnapped Azhar, Saidi told the cops during interrogation that he had completed his MTech from a UP university and had, in recent day, been teaching in a private university in Greater Noida. He claimed that he was under pressure after having borrowed Rs 5 lakh from relatives to pay a man from Bhajanpura who had promised him a government job. After taking the money the man had disappeared. Despite his desperate situation, Saidi claimed to have cleared the civil services preliminary exams soon after.
On a visit to Bhajanpura to try and locate the man who had conned him, Saidi spotted Azhar and the thought of kidnapping him for ransom took hold. He posed as the son of a mufti and acquired the father’s number from the house. On Tuesday, he approached another child and asked him to call Azhar outside so he could take both for a ride in a car.
After abducting the five-year-old, Saidi got him new clothes and food to placate him. He kept him in a vacant house and set out to make the ransom calls. Police will question the owner of the house and some other people whose help Saidi had availed.