Man kidnaps ‘rich’ boy, turns out to be auto driver’s son

Mumbai: A man who had kidnapped a six-year-old boy from an English medium school hoping to make a quick buck off his ‘rich’ father was in for a shock.

The boy’s father turned out to be a rickshaw driver who could little afford to pay a ransom of Rs 2 lakh for the safe release of the boy.

The Ghatkopar police has arrested the 32-year-old accused on Wednesday. According to the Ghatkopar police, Umesh Bhagwat, a resident of Kurla, kidnapped the boy after he left school for the day near Ghatkopar. The incident happened on Tuesday evening. He then asked for a ransom of Rs 2 lakh from the boy’s father who is a rickshaw driver. He also threatened to kill the boy if the amount was not given.

Crime PI of Ghatkopar, Yakub Mulla, said, “The boy’s father approached us immediately. He is a rickshaw driver in Ghatkopar and it was strange that he was asked for a ransom. We took the PCO and mobile number from which the kidnapper had made the calls to the rickshaw driver. We traced it and found the location to be Vidyavihar. We then told the father to call back the kidnapper telling him that he was ready to pay up the ransom. Accordingly, we laid a trap near the Vidyavihar station and once we saw the boy, we attacked the kidnapper from all sides. We arrested him on the spot. He had a gun and an aluminium rod on his person.”

“Bhagwat is a class 12 pass and unemployed. He was searching for a small job for the past one year. So he planned to kidnap children from English medium schools. He procured a gun and a rod from two of his friends. On Tuesday evening, he was sitting in the garden near the school of the boy. Seeing that the boy had come out and no one had picked him up for 10 to 15 minutes, Bhagwat planned to kidnap him. The boy was talkative. Bhagwat thought the boy’s father was rich as he was studying in an English medium school. Then he took the boy near Vidyavihar and got his father’s number from his ID card. He then called and asked for the ransom,” said senior PI Vyankat Patil.

Bhagwat was arrested under IPC sections and will be in police custody till January 10.