Kidnapped boy traced within hours

Mobile signal helps nab accused

An LKG student, Devender Reddy, 6, was allegedly kidnapped from Housing Board Colony in Kadapa town by a clerk in his father’s shop, who demanded a ransom of ₹5 lakh on Friday night, but the police traced the severely injured boy in Ramachandraiah Colony by nabbing the accused based on his mobile signals within a few hours.

Son of Pavan Kumar Reddy, a battery shop owner, the boy who was playing near a temple was allegedly kidnapped and taken on a motorcycle on Friday night.

Money demanded

The kidnapper called up the boy’s father and demanded ₹5 lakh to let off Devender Reddy. After a while, the accused, Vinod, hit the boy on his head with a boulder and left him on the road near Ramachandraiah Colony.

On a complaint and based on the mobile signals, the police questioned Vinod, a clerk in Pavan Kumar Reddy’s shop, who moved about suspiciously near his owner’s house and he claimed to have killed the boy, according to Kadapa DSP Shaik Masoom Basha. The police took him to the spot where he left the injured boy and found him writhing in pain.

The police rushed him to a private hospital, where doctors described the boy’s condition as being out of danger. Kadapa One Town police arrested Vinod and registered a case.