Four held for abducting youth in Haryana

PANCHKULA - Four people, three of them students, were arrested for abducting a 21-year-old mentally challenged youth from this Haryana town Saturday evening, police said Sunday.

According to police, the four accused had kidnapped Nipun Gupta, son of an industrialist, from the Sector 7 market Saturday evening. Later, they called up Nipun’s father and demanded Rs.80 lakh ransom for the release of the boy.

The kidnappers threatened Nipun’s father that they would kill his son if he informed the police.

The kidnappers had called four-five times on Nipun’s father’s mobile. Through mobile surveillance, we managed to ascertain their location. We immediately cordoned off the area and sent a police team to nab them, said Maneesh Chaudhary, Panchkula police chief.

He added: On seeing the police Gypsies they dropped Nipun from the vehicle and fled, taking advantage of darkness. After talking to Nipun and during the course of our investigation, we managed to get some vital clues that later helped us to nab them.

According to investigating officer Narender Kumar Rana, the accused were identified as Sahil Negi, 18, a commerce student at Panjab University in Chandigarh, Lavish Gugnani, 19, Sitansu Puri, 21, (both students of commerce studying at a private college in Chandigarh), and Abhishek Kumar, 22, who runs a shop in Manimajra town.

Police also recovered the Hyundai Verna car that was used in the crime.

Rana said that the four accused were presented before Duty Magistrate Jyoti Birbiani who sent them to police custody till March 31.

Panchkula is some 10 km from state capital Chandigarh.