india

Updated: Nov 19, 2019 00:48 IST

The Rachakonda police in Hyderabad arrested a 15-year old boy on Monday for allegedly kidnapping a seven-year-old boy and demanding a ransom of Rs 3 lakh from the latter’s parents.

The kidnapper, identified as a Class 10 student, was sent to juvenile home, Rachakonda commissioner of police Mahesh Bhagawati told reporters.

According to the police, Gurram Arjun (7), son of Gurram Raju, a software employee from Badangpet area and a student of Class 2 of a private school at Badangpet, was playing with another boy at Meerpet on Sunday evening, when a 15-year old boy approached him and offered him chocolates.

After some time, the kidnapper quietly disappeared with Arjun and took him to temple in Almasguda in an auto rickshaw. Later, he called Raju and told him that he had kidnapped the boy. He demanded a ransom of Rs 3 lakh and threatened to kill the boy if he informed to the police.

Raju appealed to the kidnapper not to harm his son and tried to bargain with him saying he could pay only Rs 1.5 lakh for which the kidnapper did not agree. “Finally, he agreed to pay Rs 25,000 in cash and the remaining amount in the form of cheque,” the police commissioner said.

In the meantime, Raju lodged a complaint with the Meerpet police who took up investigation. L B Nagar deputy superintendent of police Sunpreet Singh formed a special team and launched a manhunt for the kidnapper.

While Raju continued to engage the kidnapper through his telephonic conversation, the police tracked the caller and finally located him at Almasguda. “We took him into custody after nearly four hours of the kidnap and after questioning him, we formally arrested him on Monday morning,” Bhagawat said.

The police did not give further details about the kidnapper, except that he was a Class 10 student and had carried out the kidnapping to fund his bad habits.