M A I N   N E W S

Boy freed for ransom, kidnappers held
Sushil Goyal
Tribune News Service

Malerkotla, August 13
Parteek Bhanot, a Class XI student of the local DAV School, who was kidnapped by two car-borne miscreants from the town on August 7, was released at Benra village, near Dhuri, this morning by the kidnappers after receiving Rs 8 lakh from his father, Mr Pardeep Bhanot, a local landlord and chairman of the legal cell of the Sangrur District Congress Committee, as ransom last night in Patiala.

After receiving information from the parents of Parteek that he had been released by the kidnappers at Benra village at about 6.00 a.m. today, the district police laid a trap to nab the kidnappers and succeeded in arresting both of them at Mohrana bridge, about 7 km from here, on the Malerkotla-Nabha road. The police recovered Rs 8 lakh and seized the Maruti car allegedly used in the kidnapping from them.

Mr A.S. Rai, SSP, Sangrur, said initially the kidnappers had demanded Rs 15 lakh from Parteek’s parents to release their son, but finally settled down for Rs 8 lakh.

Mr Rai identified the kidnappers as Asif from Malerkotla and Vijay Inder Saini, alias Rinkesh, from Rajpura.

He said Rinkesh had been a classmate of Asif. He said Asif had made the plan to kidnap Parteek and involved Rinkesh as his partner.