Four-yr-old kidnapped to avenge uncle's affair

Police rescue child, arrest Horticulture clerk, auto driver

The police on Sunday rescued a four-year-old boy who was allegedly kidnapped by a horticulture department clerk with the help of an auto-rickshaw driver in retaliation for his wife’s alleged affair with the child’s uncle. The boy was traced to Bangarpet in Kolar district.

Manjunath, a clerk in the Horticulture department, and Madhu, an auto-rickshaw driver, have been arrested on the charge of kidnapping the boy, Nithin. Police said Manjunath kidnapped the boy as he furious with the child’s uncle, Balakrishna for alleging having an affair with his wife.

Manjunath and Madhu arrived at Balakrishna’s house to assault him. Githa, sister of Balakrishna, was alone in the home with her two children.

Duo bluffs boy’s mother

The duo told Githa that her relatives had met with an accident. A scared Githa got into Madhu’s auto-rickshaw with her children. She soon sensed that something was fishy and alighted from the vehicle with her daughter.

She was just telling Manjunath that she would talk to a relative who lived nearby, when Manjunath fled with her little boy, Nithin, in the vehicle, the police said.

When Githa could not find Nithin or the auto-rickshaw anywhere, she informed her husband and relatives. They called the police and suspected the involvement of Manjunath and Madhu in the crime.

The police tracked Madhu at his house on Sunday morning and interrogated him. He revealed that he had dropped Manjunath near Hoskote the previous night.

Manjunath had taken the boy to his in-laws’ house in Bangarpet before fleeing to Kolar. The police found the boy in Bangarpet and followed Manjunath to his friend’s house in Kolar.

A senior police officer, said, “During the interrogation, Manjunath said that they had gone to Balakrishna’s house to thrash him up as he had suspected that Balakrishna had an affair with his wife. Recently, Manjunath had fought with his wife over this matter and his wife had deserted him and was staying with her parents in Bangarpet. It is also said that Manjunath did not like Balakrishna frequenting his house and they had also fought recently over some financial issues.”