Delhi man held for kidnaping 5-yr-old boy to 'gift' to uncle

A Delhi man kidnapped a 5-year-old child of his neighbour to "gift" him to his uncle who had lost four sons during their birth, but both have been nabbed from Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh and the child rescued, a police official said on Saturday.

The accused have been identified as Neeraj, 21 and his maternal uncle Sunit Babu, 31.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Southeast, Esha Pandey, said that on January 1, a minor child had reportedly gone missing from near his residence in the Gautampuri Part-I area, and after searching in the entire vicinity for 2 days, the boy's father approached Badarpur police station on January 3.

"He told police that his son, aged 5 years was playing outside the house and is missing since 8.30 pm of January 1," she said.

The father didn't suspect or accuse anyone for kidnapping his child, yet the police, sensing the gravity of the matter, registered an FIR under section 363 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code and began probing the matter.

"During the investigation, a police team was formed that thoroughly questioned the complainant, his family members, relatives, friends, and local residents of the area and also scrutinised the CCTV footage of the entire area. The boy was tracked playing and roaming in one camera only but nothing was found substantiating the fact about the abduction of the child," said the DCP.

The police team got a breakthrough when it was found that complainant's neighbor, Neeraj had also left the area on the same night. Therefore, his digital footprints were analyzed and it was found that he had left Delhi.

"Eventually, the police traced suspect Neeraj, who initially tried to mislead the police, but broke up during sustained interrogation. He revealed that he had kidnapped the child from a place near his house and shifted him to the residence of his maternal uncle namely Sunit Babu at village Jiravli in Aligarh district," the DCP said.

Neeraj revealed that his uncle's wife had given birth to four sons but all had soon died just after their birth. He said that he wanted to gift a baby boy to his maternal uncle so he planned to kidnap the child from the Gautampuri area.

The child was safely rescued from UP's Aligarh and was medically examined.

The culpable roles of each of the accused persons are being established accordingly, the DCP added.