Deccan Herald
 
Bangalore, Jun 17: In less than 60 hours of the abduction of an eight-year-old boy from Koramangala here, police on Saturday morning rescued the captive at Thalassery in neighbouring Kerala.

In less than 60 hours of the abduction of an eight-year-old boy from Koramangala here, police on Saturday morning rescued the captive at Thalassery in neighbouring Kerala.

Chandan Reddy, a Standard III student of Chinmaya Mission School in Bangalore, was rescued by Kerala police near the Thalassery bus-stand.

The boy's parents and a team of police officials from Bangalore, have rushed to Thalassery.

On Wednesday evening, Chandan was playing on his bicycle in front of his house in Koramangala VI Block when three persons came in a four-wheeler and whisked him away.

Within an hour of the kidnapping, a call came to the boy's father, Chaudeshwar Reddy, a deputy manager in UB Elec Instrumentation Ltd. The callers claimed that Chandan was in their custody and demanded a ransom of Rs 10 lakh to release the boy. They spoke in Hindi and warned Reddy against contacting the police.

As Reddy didn't hear from the abductors for the next few hours, he immediately approached the City police, who formed five teams to track down the boy.

The kidnappers called Reddy again on Thursday morning. Thereafter, they were in regular touch with Reddy asking him to get the money. All these calls were traced to a coin booth in Kerala. However, with every call the abductors began changing the location where the ransom was to be delivered to them. Finally, they settled for the ransom to be paid at Thalassery railway station on Saturday morning.

Hot chase

The police, in the meantime, were on the hot trail of the abductors.

Chandan was believed to have been taken to Thalassery via Mangalore and Kasargod.

Kerala police too joined the Bangalore police in the hunt. On Saturday morning, when the Kerala police, acting on a tip-off, swooped down on Thalassery bus-stand, the kidnappers, who obviously sensed that the police were zeroing in on them, had abandoned the boy, the Bangalore police said.

However, sources said that the boy was abandoned under a flyover near the bus-stand. The weeping boy was noticed by some fisherfolk who are believed to have handed him over to Thalassery police.

Fourth case of abduction

Chandan Reddy’s abduction on Wednesday was the fourth case of a child being kidnapped from Koramangala and its vicinity in as many months.

Wednesday’s abduction has spread a scare among parents in the locality. Though the police might have redeemed themselves by their swift action in rescuing Chandan, two of the four abducted children still remain untraced. While Chandan and another boy was rescued, there is no word yet on the fate of a boy and another girl.