6-yr-old boy rescued hours after being abducted from Pathankot

Pathankot, August 31

A six-year-old child studying in a prestigious city school was kidnapped by two persons here on Friday afternoon but a swift action by the Pathankot police led to rescue of the victim within hours from Nurpur in Kangra district of the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh.

Maahir Bhandari, son of prominent businessman Badal Bhandari, was returning from his school and was just about to enter his house in Shah colony when two car-borne occupants kidnapped him.

SSP Daljinder Singh Dhillon was quick to form teams to identify the kidnappers and also the location where the child had been taken to. Before they fled in the car, the abductors dropped a letter demanding ~2 crore in ransom.

Ex-Pathankot MLA Amit Vij, who is well known to Badal Bhandari, rang up Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu who, in turn, asked the police of Nurpur to immediately locate the whereabouts of the child. Vij later gave credit to HP Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Abhishek Trivedi, Nurpur SSP Ashok Ratan and Pathankot SSP Daljinder Dhillon for solving the case within hours of the incident. “The HP police did a commendable job. The Pathankot SSP, too, quickly formed teams to crack the case,” said Vij.

A video of the kidnapping had gone viral shocking residents. Police officers say the kidnappers developed cold feet after they got to know that the kidnapping had been captured on social media platforms and was being widely circulated in the town.

The abductors have been identified as Amit Rana, a suspended Border Security Force (BSF) constable and his accomplice Sonu.