Several people of Shahpur Jat village were interrogated in connection with the case. (Representational)
A three-year-old boy was rescued after he was allegedly kidnapped by a neighbour in south Delhi's Hauz Khas area, a police official said. The accused told the police he wanted to raise the boy as his son.
The accused was identified as Abedin Ansari, a native of Giridi in Jharkhand, he said.
On August 19, the boy's father had filed a complaint at the Hauz Khas police station alleging that his son who was playing in Shahpur Jat Park at around 7 to 7.30 pm was missing, he said.
Several people of Shahpur Jat village were interrogated in connection with the case, he said.
During investigation, the police learnt that a neighbour who was quite friendly with the boy was also missing since the day of the incident, he added.
Subsequently, a police team was sent to his village in Jharkhand's Giridi district, the official said.
Based on a tip-off, four teams were constituted yesterday and traps were laid at the New Delhi railway station, old Delhi railway station, Hazrat Nizamuddin and Anand Vihar railway station, the official said.
After a wait of six hours, the child was safely recovered from the possession of the neighbour when he reached at the New Delhi railway station by Magadh Express, the official said, adding that the accused was also arrested.
During interrogation, Ansari told the police that he was going to his village with his wife and he met the child near Shahpur Jat Park.
Ansari said he was quite friendly with the child and used to play with him and planned to raise him as his son. So, he took the child along with him to his village where he was going to drop his wife, the official said.
But after reaching the village, Ansari learnt that the victim's father had filed a case and the police had already reached his village enquiring about him.
So, he decided to take the child back to Delhi with an intention to keep the child with him somewhere in Delhi or National Capital Region (NCR), the official said.