The Panipat Police, in a joint operation with the Sonepat and Rohtak police, rescued a 12-year-old boy who had been kidnapped from the Panipat Thermal Power Station (PTPS) residential colony in Madlauda within 11 hours of the abduction. The rescue followed an encounter with the kidnappers in Kiloi village of Rohtak district.
Three accused, including a woman, were arrested during the operation. Two of the accused sustained bullet injuries in the encounter.
The accused have been identified as Vishal of Kachha Camp, Aadesh of Sunder Nagar in the PTPS colony, and Sharda of Bharan village in Panipat district.
Director General of Police (DGP) Ajay Singhal announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for the police team and appreciation letters for its members. Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini was also closely monitoring developments in the case.
According to the complaint lodged by Sunita, the victim’s mother and an executive engineer posted at PTPS, her son Kabir had gone for a walk on Friday evening but did not return home.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Bhupender Singh said the police received information about the kidnapping around 10.30 pm. The kidnappers allegedly demanded a ransom of Rs 1.5 crore from the family.
The SP said that immediately after receiving the information, all crime investigation units were activated and the case was assigned to the CIA-2 team.
During the investigation, it emerged that the accused had made a ransom call from Uttar Pradesh in an attempt to mislead investigators. However, they later re-entered Haryana. Through technical surveillance and continuous monitoring, the police managed to track their movements.
Working in coordination with the Gohana and Rohtak police, the team eventually surrounded the accused near Kiloi village. On spotting the police, the kidnappers allegedly pushed the boy out of their moving car, causing him minor injuries.
The police immediately rescued the child and shifted him to safety. The accused then rammed a police vehicle while attempting to flee and allegedly opened fire on the police team.
The police returned fire, injuring Vishal and Aadesh in their legs. The woman accused, Sharda, was arrested from the vehicle, while the injured accused were taken into custody.
All three accused were later shifted for medical treatment.
SP Singh said investigations were under way and preliminary findings suggested the involvement of additional associates in the kidnapping. Police are probing the wider conspiracy and attempting to identify and arrest the remaining suspects.
