Daijiworld Media Network - Puttur (SP)

Puttur, Sep 29: In an incident which took place on Tuesday September 28 evening at Matha Hirtadka near Uppinangady in the taluk, a stranger who came in a Maruti Omni van, caught hold of a boy and tried to forcefully take him away. The boy involved was Taj Sifan (14), son of Abdurrahman, resident of Hirtadka Janata Colony.

Sifan (14), a ninth standard student of the government college at Uppinangady, was walking by the side of the road when he went through this fearful incident. Sifan had visited the beedi branch in Hirtadka on Tuesday evening to deliver the beedis rolled by his family members. Unnoticed by him, a Maruti Omni van silently came from behind. One of the men occupying the van pulled the boy by his collar, it is said. The boy, who was taken aback, struggled to break free from the grip and run away. During this scuffle, all the buttons of his shirt broke and his shirt also came off his body. The boy who escaped ran to the residence of his aunt nearby. By then the van too disappeared.

As the boy was fearful at the time, he did not properly notice how many were inside the van, it is learnt. His father filed complaint in Uppinangady police station.

A few days back, an unidentified man had tried to kidnap a boy from Laxminagara here. The second attempt happening in quick succession has spread a sense of concern and fear in the minds of the local people.