A 30-year-old man, who had kidnapped a child and taken the ransom via UPI on his mobile wallet, has been arrested by the Noida Police who used his digital footprints to trace him, officials said on Monday.
The six-year-old boy who was kidnapped and taken to Gurugram has been recovered safely and reunited with his family, according to the police.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Noida) Anil Kumar Yadav said the boy was picked up from Naya Bans village, under Phase 2 police station limits, last week and an FIR was lodged under the Indian Penal Code section 364A (kidnapping for ransom) after the family approached them with a complaint. The boy had gone missing on June 22 and was found sitting on a bench near the NSEZ metro station on June 23 after the kidnapper released him post a payment of Rs 30,000 by the child’s family, police said. The child’s father runs a small eatery, they said. “When the kidnapper called the father for ransom, the police used electronic surveillance and other manual inputs to trace the caller, who kept telling the father not to inform the police. Our first priority was ensuring the safety of the child,” Yadav said.
The money was taken in two instalments and withdrawn from a Jan Seva Kendra in Noida. The officer highlighted that the caller had demanded payment through the PhonePe app and the police suggested to the family to go ahead with the payment so that it could be traced.