Eight-year-old Chandan Reddy, the Koramangala boy who was kidnapped from in front of his house in Bangalore and abandoned near Thalassery in Kerala last week, returned home on Monday to the unalloyed adulation and love of his friends and neighbours.
  caught up with the boy while he was busy reliving his moments in captivity with his friends.
Akash, who was bicycling with Chandan till a few minutes before the abductors struck on Wednesday last, was blunt in his poser: “Why did you get into a stranger’s car?”
Incidentally, Akash’s mother forcibly took her son away as he was supposed to attend karate classes, while Chandan continued to pedal.
Akash’s query had Chandan blinking for a few seconds. “While I was cycling fast, one uncle came in my way. He stopped me and told me that he will show me another ‘racing’ cycle which can move fast. I told him that I will keep my cycle and join him but they said leave this cycle here and come fast. We can return before dark. I thought for a while and since I was in front of the house of Prerana, their another friend who lives down the road, I left the cycle into her house and got into their van,” he said.
“There were two ‘uncles’ in the van: one was quite old and stout, while the other young person was driving. They bought me cool drinks and fried rice. After sometime, they asked for my papa's cell number. The two were nice to me but after talking to my papa, the fat uncle started acting rude.”
“We drove past Wonder La (Fun Park) and then on, they tied my hands and put a plaster on my mouth,” Chandan narrated, even as he continued to demonstrate what that meant.
“The ‘fat’ uncle forcibly used to put some blue tablet into my mouth. Whenever he threatened me, the driver uncle used to pacify me and talk to me lovingly,” Chandan said.
The boys’ conversation lost track as Chandan’s father, Mr Reddy, walked into the house. Heaving a sigh of relief, Reddy picked up from where his son had let off. “After the first call on my mobile on Wednesday night, there was no news for almost 24 hours. Then, I got a call ordering me to carry Rs 10 lakh to Mangalore. I reached Mangalore with police in tow. A kidnapper, who identified himself as Nikhil, called me up and told me to take the Mangalore-Calicut train. I boarded the train and midway, I was directed to throw the money out of the moving train. The caller said they would collect the money and later hand over the child. I said no.”
“Later around 1:15 pm, I was told to get down at Thalassery railway station and wait for further orders. There was a lot of drama at the Thalassery station. We were waiting in front of the railway station and they wanted me to go to the backyard to hand over the cash and finally, Nikhil's cellphone currency got over and when I called back, he spoke in frustration and told me that “your son will be no more”.
“I kept on calling but Nikhil’s cell was switched off. Around 4:55 am, he received my call and said, ‘Saala, police ko lekar aya na’, and cut the call. I collapsed thinking that it was all over. By god’s grace, in 15 minutes I got a call from a landline number asking me whether I was looking for my son. I gained strength after I learnt it was the Thalassery police giving me the good news that Chandan is safe in their custody."
When asked what might have made the kidnappers abandon the child, he said, “Firstly, I feel they smelt police were on their trail and as Chandan kept saying the ‘driver uncle’ was good, he might have hoodwinked the other kidnapper and abandoned him near the flyover and fled the scene.”