When the kidnapper along with the seven-month-old boy was 800 metres away from the police, the officers lost his location and were about to lose him. They, however, decided to take a risk and ended up successful.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer) Parvinder Singh said that around 1.30 p.m. on Friday, Outer Delhi’s Ranhola police station received a call stating that their seven-month-old son had been kidnapped by their tenant and that the accused was asking for a ransom of ₹40 lakh.
Came to play with child
A police team, including Station House Officer Inspector Vimal reached the caller’s house where they met the child’s mother Shivi Kaushik.
She told the police that Priyanshu Kumar, a computer engineer, has been staying on the second floor of their residential building on rent for the last two months.
On Friday, he came around 11.30 a.m. and said he wanted to play with her son and when she told him that the child was sleeping, he decided to wait.
An hour later, when the child woke up, he immediately picked him up and when the mother went out of the room, Priyanshu escaped with the child.
Ms. Kaushik informed her husband, Sidhartha Kaushik, who is a pharmacist working in a company in Okhla.
Around the same time, Priyanshu called Mr. Kaushik and told him to transfer ₹40 lakh and cooperate. He also said that he would harm the child if they approached the police. The family, however, was firm that they wanted to get police help.
Operation lasted 7 hours
The police registered the case and began the operation which lasted nearly seven hours. Additional DCP Sudhanshu Dhama took the lead and stayed with the family throughout.
Recalling the stressful and dramatic operation, Mr. Dhama said that the main aim for the team was to keep the accused engaged and gain his trust. “Till the very end, he had no knowledge that the police were involved. He was also switching off his phone for a few minutes every now and then. His phone had to remain switched on for us to track him,” he said.
Gain kidnapper’s trust
Mr. Dhama continued to chat with the accused on messages using the father’s phone.
“I used the father’s phone and gained his trust, particularly telling him that the police wasn’t being involved. I asked him questions about the child. I also told him not to come near Mohan Garden and to stay away from the police,” the officer said.
Another tactic used by them was to transfer money to him. A total of ₹40,000 were transferred to his account. Mr. Singh said that a team was constantly tracking his location.
He first walked about 4 km towards Uttam Nagar from where he took a cab to Pandav Nagar, went to Anand Vihar and then took another cab to Vasundhara.
He then went to Vaishali and then came towards Delhi again. He also withdrew transferred money at one point. Around 4.30 p.m., he hired a cab in which he remained till the end.
Lost track
The police said that he took the cab towards Aerocity and Mehram Nagar as well and that’s when they felt he could try to leave the city too. The police started sweet talking him into coming to Lajwanti Chowk. “But 800 metres from his cab, we lost his location. At that point, he was also getting anxious and said that he was going to harm the child. His father started crying. We took a risk and calculated at what point he would reach the junction and hoped that the signal turned red so he could be intercepted,” Mr. Dhama said.
But, to their misfortune, they could only trace him again when he was 140 metres away from them and had crossed the red light.
The police, all of them in civil dress, intercepted the car and rescued the child. Priyanshu managed to flee.
He was, however, arrested six hours later with the help of technical intelligence.
During interrogation, he allegedly told the police that he is a BTech degree holder and graduated in 2018. He was currently doing apprenticeship in Sahibabad.
He allegedly told the police that he has a girlfriend in Kanpur and he needs to meet her demands for which he constantly needs money.
He decided to kidnap the child and ask for ₹40 lakh ransom so he could settle with her in Kanpur.
