A seven-year-old boy was rescued from a 38-year-old man who was allegedly trying to kidnap him from outside his school on the pretext of taking him for a walk, in southeast Delhi's New Friends Colony, the police said on Wednesday.
The man identified as Mukesh was arrested by the police on Tuesday, and has been charged under the appropriate sections of IPC.
"The accused had reportedly told the boy that he knew his parents. He then allegedly lured the child by giving him chocolates since he found him physically attractive,” said a police source. However, the police refuted claims that the accused wanted to sexually assault the child.
Sources said Mukesh worked as a salesman in Nehru Place. He used to live alone in the slums of Taimoor Nagar.
Alert neighbour
Investigators said the incident came to light on Tuesday when around 3 p.m. a neighbour of the child, a class II student at New Cosmos Public School in Taimoor Nagar, saw an unidentified man taking the minor boy. Sources said the woman, who had come to pick his child, raised an alarm and informed the school authorities who in turn informed the police.
The police said the school authorities had detained Mukesh and also informed his father.
The boy's father works a compounder at a private hospital in New Friends Colony.
A case has bee registered under IPC Section 363 (punishment for kidnapping) at the New Friends Colony police station against the accused.
He has been sent to judicial custody.
