Gurugram: The case of the kidnapping of two children and their father from Gurugram was unexpectedly solved when three suspected kidnappers were killed in a car accident in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly on Sunday evening, police said on Monday. The two children who were in the car at the time of the accident survived.
The matter came to light when the Uttar Pradesh Police received a report of a collision on the Delhi-Lucknow Expressway near Baradhole in Bareilly, in which three occupants of a Mahindra Bolero died after it collided with a parked truck. Two motorcyclists also died after colliding with the Bolero.
Inside the Bolero were the kidnapped children – aged between six and three – in addition to four defendants. While three suspects were killed, the driver and the two children escaped injuries. Uttar Pradesh police said the children survived after being thrown out of the car due to the collision. They both suffered fractures but are said to be in stable condition.
The breakthrough in the case came when UP Police officers questioned the six-year-old on Monday at a private hospital, where he was admitted, and he told the cops about the kidnapping. Accordingly, the police traced and rescued the father, who was being held captive in a house in Faridpur, and informed the Gurugram Police.
“The child’s statement was crucial. Based on the details shared by him and the driver, we were able to locate the father and rescue him,” said Inspector Pradeep Chaturvedi, superintendent of police of CB Ganj police station in Bareilly.
The family had gone missing on Saturday night from Gurugram. The father, an auto rickshaw driver, had left his home in Nathupur, DLF Phase 3, to drop a passenger at the temple around 7.30 pm. He took his children with him. When they did not return, his wife found the cart abandoned near the temple and informed the police. A case of kidnapping was registered at DLF Phase 1 police station on Saturday evening.
Inspector Manoj, SHO of DLF Phase 1 police station, said that one of the accused killed in the incident was a relative of the victims. He added: “The suspect was the one who kidnapped the rickshaw driver and the children with the help of his companions.”
A team of Gurugram Police reached Bareilly late on Sunday night, where they met the children at the hospital.
Preliminary findings indicate that the accused may have been transporting the victims towards Delhi.
“This depends on the initial information from the injured driver. The exact motive will become clear after recording the statements,” Chaturvedi said.
UP Police officials said they arrested a man – the father of one of the men killed in the accident – in Faridpur on Monday to lock up the autorickshaw driver. Several criminal cases have been registered against him in Bareilly. Investigators familiar with the case said that the motive appears to be that one of the killed men wanted to marry the rickshaw driver’s niece, but he opposed that, so they kidnapped the trio.
