Gorakhpur (UP), Jul 28 (IANS): A teenage boy, who had been kidnapped for ransom on Sunday in Gorakhpur district, was found dead in a forest area near a canal on Monday evening.

The 14-year-old son of a grocery and 'paan' shop owner was kidnapped from Pipraich area on Sunday and was killed by the kidnappers a few hours later.

The police said that five persons have been arrested for their alleged role in the kidnapping-cum-murder of the boy and two of the accused are still absconding.

Gorakhpur is the home district of UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who has now ordered stringent action against the culprits. He has also announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh to the family.

According to the boy's father, Mahajan Gupta, "After taking lunch on Sunday afternoon, my son had gone outside to play. In the evening I received a phone call from an unknown number and the person on the line asked me to pay a ransom of Rs 1 crore for my son. We immediately reported the matter to the police."

Gorakhpur SSP Sunil Kumar Gupta said soon after getting the information, the police swung into action and nabbed one Dayanand from the Jungle Dhoosar area.

Additional superintendent of police, north, Gorakhpur, Arvind Pandey told reporters that on the basis of surveillance and local intelligence, Dayanand was first arrested and later, on his information, body of the victim was recovered.

During interrogation, Dayanand confessed he, along with some of his accomplices, had kidnapped the boy and killed him on Sunday evening itself.

After killing the boy, the miscreants packed his body in a bag and threw it near Kewatia nulla in the area. The police recovered the body on Monday.

Dayanand named Ajay Gupta of Jungle Dhoosar area and Nikhil Bharti of Mishroulia village are the partners in the crime. The two have also been arrested.

Dayanand has also named two other residents of Jungle Dhoosar -- Nitin Chauhan and Ajai Chauhan -- and the police have launched a manhunt for their arrest.

Two other residents of the same area, Rinku Gupta and Nitesh Paswan, have been arrested for selling mobile SIM to the miscreants which was used for making ransom call.

The SSP said Nikhil Bharti knew the victim and he and his accomplices were planning to kidnap him for the last eight to ten days.

The victim's father had bought some land and Dayanand was also into property dealing.

The accused believed that the trader was quite rich and would easily pay them the hefty ransom.