GHAZIABAD: A minor boy and a call centre executive were among five persons arrested for kidnapping the 12-year-old son of a businessman from Mayur Vihar in Delhi on Friday.The boy, Piyush Gupta , a Class VII student of Vidya Bal Bhavan, was rescued from a rented accommodation in Khoda colony within hours of his kidnap in the afternoon. The accused have been identified as Raja Gaur, Akash Chaudhary, both from Assam; Karan Yadav, Ravi and the minor boy, who are residents of Allahabad.Raja and the minor boy — a 15-year-old — used to work at the grocery store of Piyush’s father Ajay Kumar Gupta in New Kondli and would pick up and drop his son from school every day. “They had taken leave for 15 days, citing some emergency. During this period, Raja, the minor boy and Akash, who is a customer care executive with a cellular company, went to Allahabad and hatched a plan along with the other accomplices to kidnap Piyush and seek a ransom from his father,” Ghaziabad SSP Vaibhav Krishna said.After coming back to Delhi, Raja went to the boy’s school around 2pm on Friday and told him he would take him home. Little did Piyush suspect any foul play and rode with Raja on his bike. The 12-year-old was taken to Akash’s rented accommodation in Khoda and threatened against raising his voice.Piyush’s father Ajay Gupta said he got the first ransom call around 4.35pm on Friday and the caller asked for Rs 2 crore by 8pm. “I immediately called up Delhi Police and informed them that my son had been kidnapped. An FIR was registered at New Ashok Nagar police station. I received four calls till 7.30pm, through which the caller sought to know the progress I had made in arranging the money,” Gupta said.As Gupta was frantically calling up friends to arrange for the amount, he received a call from Khoda police station around 8.15pm that his son had been rescued.Police said a few people from the building where Piyush had been kept had tipped off the cops about “some suspicious activity” in a flat. “They told us about the presence of a minor boy and that they had seen many people coming and going out of the room frequently. We conducted a raid and the boy was found there,” Krishna said.“The boy was not harmed in any way, but he was quite afraid. He was sitting on a bed. The minor accused and Karan, who were guarding him, were arrested,” he added.Unaware of the police raid and the arrest of their accomplices, the three other accused — Raja, Akash and Ravi — kept calling Gupta for the ransom — the boy’s father received the last call around 12.30am. The trio were later picked up from Anand Vihar area.Gupta said his trust had been broken, pointing out how he had helped the minor boy with money many a times in the past. “The boy had come to me two years ago. I engaged him in the shop and provide him with food and clothes. He then went away and came back around 20 days ago. He met Raja, who had been working at the shop for the past two and a half months, and forged a friendship. I never thought the duo would betray me in this manner,” he added.

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