The Ludhiana Commissionerate Police led by Commissioner of Police (CP) Rakesh Agrawal on Wednesday, cracked the case of two and half-years-old child kidnapping case in less than 20 hours and arrested one accused in the case.The arrested accused person has been identified as Rashpal Singh, a resident of Moga. Three accused persons including the Kingpin driver identified as Harjinderpal Singh, a resident of Fazilka and his two accomplices identified as Lal Singh of Zira and Sukhdev Singh of Fazilka have been absconding.The Police have also recovered two cars including Maruti Swift Dzire Car and Volkswagen Polo and three weapons including .32 bore revolver, single barrel gun, .12 bore double barrel gun and air pistol besides huge amount of ammunition from the accused Rashpal Singh. Addressing the press conference, CP Rakesh Agrawal said that Complainant Pankaj Gupta, a resident of SBS Nagar Ludhiana and owner of the Keys Hotel lodged a complaint with the police that his two and half-years-old son, who had gone for a ride with driver Harinderpal in his White Swift Dzire had been kidnapped. The complainant stated that his wife got a ransom call on her mobile phone that her son has been kidnapped and the caller demanded Rs.4 Crore Rupees as ransom for his release.The Police Commissioner said that the kidnapper threatened the family that if the ransom money of Rs 4 crores was not paid, then he would kill the child. “The kidnapper even forbade the parents from informing the police,” he added.
Acting swiftly, the case was registered the under sections 364-A (Kidnapping for ransom), 369 (Kidnapping or abducting child under ten years with intent to steal from its person), 342 (wrongful confinement), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 381 (theft by clerk or servant of property in possession of master) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Dugri Police Station Ludhiana.Police Commissioner said that the Ludhiana police immediately brought the entire matter in the notice of the Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Dinkar Gupta and started the search operation. He said that DGP Dinkar Gupta himself took charge of the operation for safe recovery of the kidnapped child.The DGP asked ADGP Law & Orders Punjab Ishwar Singh to carry out special Nakabandi throughout Punjab and all the districts were put on high alert while ADGP Internal Security Punjab RN Dhoke personally supervised the entire operation.CP Rakesh Agrawal said that during the investigation it came to light that the driver of Pankaj Gupta along with three accomplices had conspired the kidnapping of the child. He said that Accused driver Harjinderpal had taken the child out for a ride as routine and later, switched off his phone near Moga. He said that then the accused made a ransom call from some unknown mobile number on the mobile of mother of the child.“Ludhiana Police carried out an intensive search operation in Moga with the help of Moga Police throughout the night to recover the child safely. The intelligence provided by police headquarters and the search operation with the assistance of Moga police pressurised the kidnappers to flee from the Dagru Railway Crossing leaving the child in car there,” Commissioner of Police said. He said that the child was recovered safely and police have been conducting raids to arrest the other accused persons. He said that the possibility of involvement of more accused persons cannot be ruled out.