The trio from Miryalaguda, Nalgonda, caught by police for kidnapping a boy for ransom from Vanasthalipuram on Sunday have admitted to having abducted two other boys earlier.
One of the two boys - aged about nine months – was kidnapped by them five years ago and was sold to a person for Rs.1.5 lakh in Miryalaguda. The other boy, Sujeeth Reddy, eight, abducted from Champapet in Saroornagar in February, was set free after the boy's father paid them nearly Rs.1.5 lakh ransom, Vanasthalipuram Inspector B. Ravinder Reddy, said on Monday.
In Sujeeth Reddy's case, the boy's father preferred not to reveal the ransom paid to the police though he did lodge a complaint with the Saroornagar police soon after receiving the payment call. A day after the abduction, the boy was set free and it was believed then that the kidnappers had released him worried of being caught by the police.
However, the arrest of the accused, K. Prem Kumar, lorry mechanic, R. Dilip Kumar, car driver and S. Abhilash Reddy, B.Tech. student, has revealed that it was due to the ransom paid that the boy was freed and not due to police efforts.
The accused, emboldened after the successful kidnap for ransom, took a house on rent at Nagole and started moving in a hired car to identify minors for kidnap. While moving in Sachivalaynagar, they spotted a boy, Manikantha, 11, class seven student walking alone on the road.
They assumed that the boy hailed from an affluent family from the dress he was wearing. Under the guise of seeking direction to an address, they lured him into the car and after travelling some distance took his father's mobile number claiming to know him.
Later, the trio confined the boy to a room and started making ransom calls to his father but acting on a tip-off, the police raided the hide-out and rescued the boy.
Meanwhile, the Miryalaguda police were also alerted about fresh leads into the nine-month-old baby boy's disappearance case. “The trio have confessed to some details about the boy's whereabouts. We are hopeful of tracing him and reuniting him with his family,” the Inspector said.
