The three men were arrested on Wednesday.
A Delhi man's plan to execute a perfect kidnapping was foiled when his accomplices took an untimely tea break. Three men, including the uncle of a seven-year-old boy, were arrested on Wednesday for kidnapping the child and demanding a ransom of Rs 3 lakh, police said. The child was found at a tea stall in Karol Bagh, just two hours after he was taken from his house in nearby Shastri Nagar, they added.
The plan to kidnap the child was hatched by the seven-year-old's maternal uncle who was jealous of his brother-in-law's prosperous business and wanted a piece of it for himself, police said.
On Wednesday, Sunil Kumar, a resident of West Delhi's Shastri Nagar, approached the Sarai Rohilla police, to complain about his missing son. Mr Kumar said he received a call claiming his son has been kidnapped and demanding a ransom of Rs 3 lakh. The caller also threatened to kill the child if the money was not arranged within 30 minutes.
Initially, Mr Kumar dismissed the call as a prank but soon another caller from a different number repeated the threat, prompting him to check his house for his son. Panic struck the family when they were unable to find the child. In the meantime, the kidnapper called again asking Mr Kumar to bring the ransom amount to the Jhandewalan Temple. The family then approached the police.
Police sprung into action and several teams were formed to scan CCTV cameras around the house, North District DCP Manoj Kumar Meena said. The phone numbers used by the kidnappers were also tracked to zero down on their location. The family including the child's uncle Vikas, who was the mastermind behind the kidnapping, also joined the search efforts. He stayed on the phone with his partners, feeding them information about the police's whereabouts to help them evade arrest, he said.
The rescue teams then set out on foot in the areas around the house and soon found the child at a tea tall in Karol Bagh, a few kilometres away, with two men who were constantly talking on the phone. The police swiftly rescued the child and arrested the two men, identified as Sunil Pal(27) and Deepak (25). Their mobile phones and a bike were seized, police said.
Police said Pal knew the child's father Sunil Kumar as they both worked together. After quitting his job, Kumar began a new venture and was earning well. Jealous, both Sunil and Vikas hatched the plan to kidnap Kumar's seven-year-old for ransom. "Deepak and Shivam Pal befriended the child by offering him some food and then abducted him on their motorcycle. They took the child to the Old Rajendra Nagar area and made a ransom call to the complainant," senior police officer Meena said.
A case has been registered and further investigation is underway.