By Soumitra Nandi
Kolkata: Acting on a tip off by the Ranchi police, the special task force (STF) of Kolkata Police tracked down a 10 year old child who was abducted from near his residence on April 19.  The STF sleuths also detained the accused who had kidnapped the child promising him to offer a motor bike ride. The Ranchi police reached the city in the wee hours on Sunday along with the child’s parents and arrested the accused. 

According to police sources, Praful Bhagat, the 10 year old and a resident of Mission Gali at Gonda in Ranchi was abducted on 19th April. The accused Sunny Orao used to stay on rent in the house of the child’s father Ramdeo Bhagat in the year 2012. He left after six months but was in touch with the family. On 19th he dropped in at the Bhagat residence and took the child for a motor cycle ride. But after the child did not return till evening, his family members suspected foul play. They lodged a complaint with the Gonda police station.

A ransom call of 10 lakhs was made to Ramdeo on a number of occasions and the deal was fixed at 8 lakhs. However, on Friday the Ranchi police tracked down Sunny in Kolkata on the basis of tower location and sought the help of the STF of the city police. The STF sleuths acted immediately on the tip off and on Saturday night the child was tracked down at NRS hospital in Sealdah, Kolkata.

The accused Sunny was also tracked in the same hospital. STF sources said, the duo had fallen sick unable to bear the terrible heat. The child was suffering from acute dehydration. Some Samaritans in the Sealdah station area had found the two in semi unconscious state on Friday morning and admitted them at the hospital.

The police however is not too sure whether the abductor had feigned illness or genuinely fallen sick.

“We suspect that Sunny had realized that we had tracked him and he would be arrested soon. So he got admitted thinking that he would be able to give us the slip,” said a STF source.

“We have handed over the accused to the Ranchi police. We do not rule out the involvement of a gang in the abduction. The motive too is yet to be ascertained. The Ranchi police will surely find it out during the course of investigation,” said Amit Javalgi, deputy commissioner of police (STF).

The child’s parents also arrived in the city on Sunday and took him to their native place.