Kidnapped for ransom, boy rescued within hours; his neighbour among three held

Jalna, Jun 26 (PTI) Police have rescued a 13-year-old son of a trader in Maharashtra’s Jalna, hours after three persons, including his neighbour, kidnapped him and demanded a ransom of Rs 20 lakh from his father, an official said on Wednesday.

The drama that began on Tuesday morning, ended around 9 pm with the arrest of the three accused, he said.

The accused are identified as Rohit Bhurewal, Arbaz Shaikh and Nitin Sharma, said District Superintendent of Police (SP) Ajaykumar Bansal.

The victim is a son of an ayurvedic medicines trader Krishna Mujmule (38), he said.

“On Tuesday morning, the boy went to his school. But after some time, Mujmule received a call, in which the callers told him that his son was kidnapped, and demanded a ransom of Rs 5 crore for his release. The kidnappers threatened to give some harmful injection to the boy if their demands were not met,” he said.

Mujmule checked with the school and learnt that his son did not turn up here, prompting him to approach the Sadar Bazar police station and the District Superintendent of Police.

“We immediately launched a rescue operation. Throughout the day, the kidnappers kept calling the boy’s father and brought down the ransom amount to Rs 20 lakh. The kidnappers asked him to keep the money bag at a local petrol pump,” Bansal said.

As per the plan, Mujmule left the bag at the designated spot while the police personnel were hiding nearby. As the main accused, Bhurewal, came there to pick up the bag, the police staffers pounced on him and arrested him, he said.

During his questioning, Bhurewal told the police that his accomplices were waiting with the boy at some other spot. The police quickly moved in and arrested Shaikh and Sharma. They rescued the teenager from their clutches and seized the car and the motorcycle used in the crime along with two walkie-talkie phones, he added.

Bhurewal, the mastermind of the crime, is a neighbour of the victim. He devised the plan with his two employees to extort money, Bansal said, adding that a case of extortion and kidnapping was registered in this connection.