20-yr-old kidnaps toddler cousin for quick buck, 2 held

Noida, July 30: A 20-yearold man was arrested on Thursday for planning the kidnapping of his two-year-old cousin, who has been safely recovered, in Noida, police said.

Two friends of the main accused were also involved in the planning and one of them has been arrested while search is on for the other man, the police said.

On Tuesday, Sandeep Yadav, a resident of Sarfabad village in Sector 73, informed police around 12.30 pm that his toddler son was playing outside the house but went missing after 9 am.

“Later he got a call from kidnappers who demanded some money in exchange of the child and threatened to kill the toddler otherwise.

An FIR was immediately lodged at the local Sector 49 police station and a probe launched,” additional CP (Crime) Shriparna Ganguly said.

“The police immediately got cracking on the case and within an hour got an input that the child has been found abandoned in a park near Sector 51 metro station. The child was recovered safely,” Ms Ganguly said, adding that Crime Branch and SWAT teams were working on the case.

Further police investigation, however, revealed that the kidnapping was planned by Piyush Yadav (20), the toddler’s cousin. He had roped in two of his friends for the job and helped them pick the child up from outside the house on Tuesday morning.

“The police were initially wondering if the kidnapping was done by a gang but you would be shocked to know that it was the cousin of the victim who had plotted this crime. The plan was made randomly by them when they were thinking of ways to make quick and easy money,” Ms Ganguly told reporters.

During interrogation, Piyush told the police that he had taken the child outside their home on the pretext of playing on Tuesday morning. Soon his partners-incrime arrived on a motorcycle and he handed over the child to them. Piyush returned home and informed the family that the child had gone missing.