A 20-year-old youth was arrested from Varanasi for allegedly kidnapping a child for a ransom of Rs. 15 lakh from suburban Kurla here, a senior police official said.
The accused identified as Kishan Kumar Lacheram, who used to work in Mumbai earlier, hails from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, said police.
Lacheram allegedly kidnapped the 7-year-old child on February 2 when he was playing near his residence at Nehru Nagar in Kurla under the pretext of giving him ice-cream, said senior police inspector Pramod Khoparde.
The child’s parents lodged a complaint following which police launched a manhunt to trace the kid.
The accused called the minors parents on February 3 and told them that he has kidnapped their child, the officer said.
“We then put the entire machinery in action and found that the call was made from a place near Khandwa (Madhya Pradesh). A team led by an officer was sent there to track him down,” Khoparde said.
The police was not sure if the child was with the accused as he didn’t reveal any other details and maintained that the minor was sleeping.
The accused called again on February 4. He made the child talk to parents and demanded a ransom of Rs. 15 lakh, the official said,
Lacheram, made another call on Sunday morning and negotiated the ransom amount to Rs. 5 lakh, but didn’t tell the place where money was to be handed over, said the official.
The next day he told the parents to come to Varanasi with money on Tuesday (February 7), the official said.
A police team was sent to Varanasi and the accused was caught near the railway station, he said.
He has been for booked under section 363 (punishment for kidnapping) and 364 A (kidnapping for ransom).
