Ludhiana: Infant rescued from kidnappers, 9 held

Ludhiana, August 19

The Ludhiana Commissionerate traced a three-month-old infant to Bathinda and arrested nine persons within 24 hours after his kidnapping.

Abductor posed as child’s father

• Sonu Kumar, one of the kidnappers, told the Bathinda-based couple (also accused in the case) that he was the child’s father
• He said since he already had three children, he was not able to look after all of them owing to his meagre income
• So, he said, he wanted to sell one of his children. The couple was further planning to sell the infant to a Sirsa-based ‘party’
• It is not confirmed whether they wanted to keep the child as their own or for some other purpose

Those arrested have been identified as Inderpal, alias Sonu, of Shimlapuri; Ram Singh, alias Mastu, of Basant Nagar; Sonu Kumar of Shimlapuri; Ravinder of Sukhdev Nagar; Sanjay Mishra of Barota Road; Varinder Chaudhary, alias Thekedar, of Dugri; Parveen Kaur, alias Rani, of Shimlapuri; Ramandeep Kaur and her husband Surinder Singh of Pratap Nagar, Bathinda.

Joint Commissioner of Police (City) Narinder Bhargav, JCP RS Brar, DCP (Crime) Varinder Singh Brar and other officials addressed a press conference on Friday and said the child was handed over to the couple residing in Dugri.

Joint CP Bhargav said the infant was abducted around 12 pm on Thursday and after that the perpetrators locked the infant’s mother in one room. Considering the seriousness of the matter, Ludhiana Police Commissioner Dr Kaustubh Sharma constituted a special team. DGP Gaurav Yadav, too, directed the police to recover the child safely.

“We formed seven teams. Initially, the police arrested three persons — Inderpal, Ram and Ravinder — from Shimlapuri. Their interrogation unravelled the plot and other perpetrators were also apprehended within the next few hours. The child was recovered from Bathinda around 4 am on Friday,” Bhargav said.

Revealing the modus operandi, JCP Bhargav said Varinder Chaudhary, alias Thekedar, who is a junk dealer, used to visit the infant’s family for sale, purchase of junk items, where he got to know that the couple has a three-month-old infant. Ravi, another accused who was in touch with the Thekedar, enticed him to kidnap the child for money. The Thekedar later roped in other accused, who resided in his area. The group of five persons abducted the child after locking his mother in a room.

JCP Bhargav said later, Thekedar and one Sonu took the child to Bathinda and handed him over to a couple — Surinder Singh and his wife Ramandeep Kaur — who were to give it to Rajan Sharma, who in turn was supposed to sell the child to one Sirsa-based ‘party’ for Rs 4.5 lakh. However, with due police intervention, the child was recovered from the couple.

DCP (Crime) Varinder Brar said the tenth accused involved in the crime has also been rounded up and his role was being verified. Probe is also on to inquire whether the gang was involved in child trafficking in the past.