Ahmedabad: 10-year-old boy’s kidnapper held

AHMEDABAD: Meghaninagar police on Thursday morning nabbed Prahlad Vijaynarayan Jat, alias Sardar, 25, from his native village Chogai near Tonk in Rajasthan. Sardar had kidnapped his former employer Bhanvarlal Sharma’s 10-year-old son, Aryan, to demand a ransom of Rs 2 crore. He used to work as a driver for Bhanvarlal’s catering company about seven months ago. Aryan was rescued in a late night operation on Wednesday. At about 1.30am on Wednesday, a team led by ACP crime branch, Bhagirathsinh Gohil in coordination with DCP Zone-4, Neeraj Badgujar and SP, Amreli, Mayur Patil raided a luxury bus near Modasa in which Sardar was travelling with the boy. However, Sardar gave the slip to police by jumping out of the sleeper window.
Badgujar said that on Thursday a team led by PSI V S Sindhav raided Sardar’s house in Chogai in Rajasthan, based on a tip-off, and nabbed him.

“He is being brought to Ahmedabad under tight security cover. He is expected to arrive on Friday early morning,” he said.

PSI Sindhav said that during primary interrogation it has come to light that Sardar had not received salary amount of Rs 17,000 from his earlier employment with Bhanvarlal and had decided to kidnap Bhanvarlal’s son to get even and extort some money. “His intention was to kidnap Bhanvarlal’s son and extort ransom,” said Sindhav, who is on his way back to Ahmedabad with the accused.

Sindhav added that Aryan had told crime branch that Sardar had frightened him by firing a gunshot in the air. “When we asked Sardar about the gun he said that it was a Chinese-make plastic gun which fires crackers and resembles a real handgun. We will interrogate him further about the weapon,” said Sindhav. On Tuesday evening, Sardar had kidnapped Aryan alias Lucky while the kid was playing with his father’s cellphone on a swing in the compound of their house in Meghaninagar.

Sardar convinced the kid to go with him by saying that his uncle has bought a sports bike for him as a surprise gift. Soon, he called up Bhanvarlal’s younger brother Gopal and said that now instead of Rs 20,000 which they owed him, they will have to pay Rs 2 crore if they wanted their child back, said a police official. DCP, crime branch, Deepan Bhadran had deduced that as Sardar hails from Rajasthan there was a high probability that he will take the kid to his native. “So, with the help of SP, Arvalli, Mayur Patil and in coordination with state police control room, we barricaded all routes going towards Rajasthan and rescued the kid from a luxury bus from Ranasaiyed near Modasa,” Bhadran said.