Rajkot: Three held for abducting factory owner's son

RAJKOT: Three persons were arrested on Saturday for allegedly abducting a 12-year-old son of a factory owner from Bhavnagar late evening on Friday. The accused — Tosif alias Ghoghari Juneja (19), Gafar Thaiyam (36) and Iqbal allies Chini Fakir (19) — were arrested from Dholera in the wee hours of Saturday and brought back to Bhavnagar.

All three accused work as labourers and had planned the abduction in advance. Police said that the accused had done recce of the family and the boy’s school and tuition timings.

According to police, factory owner Mitul Rathod’s 12-year-old son Abhay was kidnapped from their residence in posh Shashtrinagar area on Bhavnagar-Rajkot highway on Friday when he was on his way to tuition classes.

Two persons came in an autorickshaw and abducted the boy. The family came to know about the kidnapping when Abhay’s tuition teacher called up his parents over his absence. When they began searching for Abhay, some children playing on the ground near their house informed them that they had seen a child being taken in an autorickshaw.

Rathod informed Nilambaug police station following which cops checked the CCTV footages on the road and traced the autorickshaw in which the child was abducted.

The accused, who were on their way to Ahmedabad, were arrested from Bhadiad (Pir) near Dholera where the autorickshaw driver had to wait for an Urs procession to pass.

“The motive of the kidnapping was ransom. But before they could demand anything we arrested the accused,” deputy superintendent of police Manish Thakar told TOI.

When asked how the accused were traced Thakar said, “The boy’s father got one phone call from the accused which lasted for nearly 22 seconds. Based on that call we got the direction in which they were headed.” Police said that interrogation of the accused would reveal more details on motive and others involved in the conspiracy.