Two minors among three held for kidnapping class 12 student

 Gurgaon, Dec 13 (IANS) Three people, including two Class X students, were detained here for kidnapping a Class XII student and demanding Rs 5 crore in ransom. The victim was rescued due to the alertness of a woman, police said on Saturday.

Akshay Punia was arrested and two minors detained for kidnapping Manav Malhotra from Palam Vihar area here.

Manav is a class 12 student at a private school here where the two minors are Class X students.

Mohit Joshi, a resident of sector-7, who is yet to be arrested, hatched the conspiracy and asked the minors to identify a target for kidnapping.

They had selected two targets (both from business families) but decided to kidnap Manav.

Akshay and Mohit used to study with Manav in Class X, but were later rusticated from the school.

"Manav was kidnapped Friday afternoon from E-block of Palam Vihar. Anju Gupta, a woman living in E-block saw the boy being kidnapped and noted down the registration number of the car and informed the police," Sangeeta Rani, deputy commissioner of police (East) told reporters.

"Twelve police teams were formed to nab the kidnappers and rescue the victim," she said.

The kidnappers, having sharp weapons, took Manav to the Aravali hills near Tikli village, some 10 km from Gurgaon and demanded Rs 5 crore for his safe release.

When the kidnappers realised that police were chasing them, they returned to the city and dropped the victim at Honda Chowk.

Akshay was arrested late night Friday from near Dhanwapur village while the two minors were rounded up from Palam Vihar area Saturday.

Akshay was produced in court which remanded him to one-day police custody.

The minors have been sent to a juvenile home in Faridabad.