Indore: In a major breakthrough, city police arrested five persons involved in the kidnapping of Akshat Jain, on Thursday. Six-year-old Akshat was abducted from a garden on February 10. ADG Varun Kapoor said that four accused were arrested from Lalitpur (UP) and one was arrested from Indore for their involvement in the kidnapping of six-year old Akshat Jain.
According to police, Hridesh Sahu (24), Akash Parashar (19), Arvind Kushwah (23), Ashish Chaturvedi (27) and Sachin Sahu (34) are the main accused in the case. During investigation, the police found that Akash Parashar was a student but was involved in criminal activities along with his friend Hridesh Sahu. Hridesh was working in a shop of his brother-in-law Sachin Sahu.
Later, Hridesh opened a cosmetic shop in Scheme no 54 and suffered huge losses and he owed around Rs 3 lakh to some people. During investigation, the police also revealed that Akash and Hridesh were involved in the kidnapping and they used bike of Sachin Sahu for the kidnapping. Sachin also had first hand information about the kidnapping. Arvind and Ashish helped Akash and Hridesh in hiding in Lalitpur while they were absconding from the police.
Why the kidnapping was done?
Hridesh, one of the main accused planned this kidnapping to demand ransom to clear his debts of Rs 3 lakh. Hridesh was living near Prime City and had seen the grocery store of Akshat’s father Rohit Jain. Hridesh then conducted a recce of the area to find more about Akshat. Hridesh tempted his friends to be a part of the kidnapping and demanded Rs 10 lakh from Rohit Jain.
How was the kidnapping executed?
On February 10, while playing with his friends in Prime City garden, Akshat was abducted by Hridesh and Akash on a bike, of which they had removed the number plate. The kidnappers told Akshat that his grandmother wants to see him. A few minutes later, the accused called Akshat’s father Rohit and demanded Rs 10 lakh for his release.
The accused then travelled on the bike with the boy to a bus stop. Hridesh along with his wife took Akshat on a bus to Lalitpur (UP). Meanwhile, Akash joined them back in Dewas. The child was easily convinced by the kidnappers that he was meeting his grandmother and so he did not show any opposition because of which people did not suspect the kidnappers.
As the police increased search operation, the accused were scared and they left Akshat near Barodia Malthone police outpost in Sagar with the contact details of his father written on a paper. The six-year-old boy was found loitering around by the cops near Barodia Malthone police outpost.
On inquiring, it was confirmed that the boy was Akshat after which he was brought back to his family on February 12 morning. The police have not yet booked Hridesh’s wife in the kidnapping but are investigating her involvement as well. The police traced movement of accused on bike with help from CCTV footage.
They also traced the owner of SIM card which eventually helped in finding the accused. The team then raided their hideouts in Lalitpur and nabbed the accused from there. Police were questioning about six people after the kidnapping in which a man Santosh was found to be involved. But later during investigation it was found that Santosh was not linked to the incident. Police arrested Sachin from Indore, where as Hridesh, Akash, Arvind and Ashish were arrested from Lalitpur.