La Martiniere College student kidnapped, rescued from Sitapur

LUCKNOW: The Lucknow police on Monday rescued a class 11 student of La Martiniere College from kidnappers in Sitapur district, about eight hours after he was taken away by his vehicle driver and two others while being driven to college.

Police said they also recovered the vehicle and school bag of the student, Arnav Agarwal, 17, and arrested the driver Santosh Yadav. However, two other kidnappers, Ajay Yadav and Sarvesh Yadav, managed to escape. Santosh had been working for the Agarwal family for the past 10 months and executed the kidnapping for ransom, police said.

According to police, the Agarwal family became suspicious when the driver did not return home by 9.30 am, by when he was supposed to return after dropping Arnav at college. Arnav was to write an exam on Monday.

When the Anup Agarwal, father of Arnav, tried to contact Santosh on his cell phone, it was found to be switched off. At around 12.20 pm, the Agarwal family informed police about Arnav and the driver’s disappearance. SSP Deepak Kumar constituted police teams under station officer, Hazratganj, Anand Kumar Shahi, station officer, Krishna Nagar, Anjani Kumar Pandey and station officer, Itaunja, Shiv Shanker Singh.

The cops also alerted three toll plazas -- on Kanpur road, Faizabad road and Sitapur road -- about the Anup Agarwal’s red SUV, UP 32 ER 1578.

THE DRIVER SANTOSH HAD BEEN WORKING FOR THE AGARWAL FAMILY FOR THE PAST 10 MONTHS AND EXECUTED THE KIDNAPPING FOR RANSOM, POLICE SAID

After scanning CCTV footage at Itaunja toll plaza, station officer Shiv Shanker Singh found that the vehicle had crossed it with three persons, including driver Santosh, in the vehicle.

After getting this valuable lead, inspector general of police, Lucknow range, Sujeet Kumar Pandey, alerted the district police chief of Sitapur.

Meanwhile, a team of the Lucknow police went to Santosh’s residence at Shahnazaf road and took his father along with them. Thereafter, they rushed to Baikunthpur village, Sitapur, the native place of Santosh.

“At Santosh’s house, the police came to know that he come there on Agarwal’s SUV and later left for Manpur , a forest area in Sitapur district,” SSP Deepak Kumar told newsmen here.

“When the police team reached Manpur, they managed to trace the vehicle and nab Santosh. After extracting information from Santosh, police rescued Arnav from a sugarcane field,” Kumar added.

The entire operation was successfully completed at around 4.30 pm, about four hours after police was informed, the SSP said.

Late on Monday evening, the police team brought Arnav back to Lucknow. Anup Agarwal, a government contractor who also runs an automobile agency, accompanied his son when he was brought back from Sitapur.

The police have launched a manhunt to arrest the other two kidnappers.