Hebbal police on Thursday rescued a seven-year-boy from his captor within an hour of the kidnap.
Shashank, who was kidnapped by Shambhu alias Shambhumanna (24), a native of Begumpur village of Hooghly taluk of West Bengal, is now safe in his parents’ custody.

According to the police, Shambhu was working with Jagan, a civil contractor, as a carpenter. Shashank’s father, Puttaraju, an electrical contractor, and Jagan are close friends.

Shambhu would visit Puttaraju’s house at Bhuvaneshwarinagar. Soon, he learnt everything about the latter.
Six months ago, Shambu quit his job and was left penniless. In a bid to get rich quickly, he decided to kidnap Shashank.

Drama
Shambhu waited near Puttaraju’s house on Thursday. After a few minutes, Puttaraju’s wife came out and went to the neighbour’s house.

Realising Shashank was alone, a masked Shambhu went inside, locked the front and rear doors from inside. He kept Shashank in one of the rooms and locked it.

He called Puttaraju from a cellphone in the house and demanded a ransom of Rs 3 lakh. He warned Puttaraju he would kill Shashank if he delayed paying the sum. He also asked Shashank to talk to his father.

Puttaraju asked Shambhu not to harm Shashank and said he would come home soon with the amount.
He immediately alerted Hebbal police, who constituted a team comprising S Badrinath, Inspector, K T Nagaraj, Sub-Inspector, Muniraju and Srinivas Shetty, both ASIs, Dwarakesh, Mahesh, Shivakumar and Sridhar Murthy, all constables.

The team surrounded Puttaraju’s house and found Shambhu holding a knife to Shashank’s neck. Police, who asked Shambhu to surrender, broke open the rear door of the house and the room door and surrounded Shambhu. They arrested him and freed Shashank.

Police Commissioner N Achutha Rao lauded the team and announced rewards for its members.