Kidnapping attempt by three foiled, 10-year-old boy saved

Surat: Three persons were nabbed by the public when they tried to kidnap a 10-year-old boy from Mota Varachha in an autorickshaw here on Thursday. The local residents after rescuing the child torched the autorickshaw.

Paresh Rathwa, Chandan Thakore and Kamlesh Asodariya were handed over to the police, who arrested them. The police took them to hospital as they had been thrashed badly by the locals. The accused were heavily drunk and did not let the child go despite being caught. This angered the locals, who started thrashing them and torched the autorickshaw too, sources said.

Boy's father Dharmesh Nakrani, a diamond polisher and resident of a housing society on Umra-Velanja Road, lodged a complaint against the accused at Amroli police station. Nakrani had gone to Kapodara with his son on a motorcycle to get corrections done in Aadhaar card on Thursday. He stopped at Mota Varachha to buy watermelon. Nakrani was inquiring about the price of the watermelon when Rathwa came from behind and abducted the boy and made him sit in the autorickshaw. The watermelon vendor noticed that the child was being kidnapped and alerted Nakrani. Meanwhile, others present at the spot gheraoed the autorickshaw and tried to pull out the child, but the accused would not release him. The crowd managed to pull out the three accused from the autorickshaw and thrashed them and rescued the child.

"We are yet to find out the exact reason why the accused tried to kidnap the child. The accused are under treatment for their injuries and will be questioned soon," the police said.