3 days ago
Patna man ‘abducts' minor relative to pay off unpaid loan
A 12‑year‑old boy was allegedly abducted by his cousin by marriage in Patna's Phulwarisharif Saturday to recover a loan of Rs 12 lakh, the police said.
According to Patna City (West) SP Bhanu Pratap Singh, an FIR was lodged immediately at Phulwarisharif Police Station, and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed under SHO Ghulam Shahbaz Alam. Within six hours, the boy was found safe and the prime accused, Ramesh Ranjan, 43, was arrested. Police also recovered a car, a knife, two mobile phones, and Rs 6,420 in cash from him.
'There was minor assault by the accused during captivity, for which the child received medical attention. Behind the crime was the accused's intent to clear a substantial outstanding loan by seeking ransom,' SP Singh added.
The boy allegedly told police that Ranjan called and lured him outside under the guise of visiting his maternal grandparents. 'After placing him in a car, Ranjan attempted to make the child unconscious using chloroform as they drove away,' the officer said.
During interrogation, Ramesh Ranjan allegedly revealed that he had earlier taken a total loan of Rs 15 lakh for his beauty shop on Jagdeo Path and that he had 'engineered the abduction' to get the money to pay off the Rs 12 lakh that remained.
The suspect 'had initially planned to abduct someone else', but after failing to do so, he resorted to kidnapping the child, the officer said.
