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Kidnapped teen's death: Two caught

Goons had plans to abduct his brother
Last Updated 26 November 2014, 03:10 IST

Two youths have been arrested for the death of a 13-year-old boy in east Delhi last week. The victim was kidnapped while he was returning home from school and was found dead next morning, police said on Tuesday.

The accused have been identified as Pratap Singh Sisodiya, 22, and Siddharth Sharma, 22.

Police said Pratap recently opened a call centre in Noida for which he required Rs 20 lakh, while Siddharth wanted to establish a business of car accessories.

“Pratap initially planned to kidnap his eight-year-old cousin Vibhu, whose father is a property dealer. But later planned to kidnap Utkarsh Verma as bigger ransom was expected from his jeweller father,” said Ajay Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East).

On November 18, Mukesh Kumar Verma went to Gandhi Nagar police station and stated that his son was dropped by the school van at Jheel Chowk in Geeta Colony. But he did not return home.

At 7.22 pm, Utkarsh’s mother received a ransom call demanding Rs 1 crore for his safe release. Mukesh also received a call from the kidnappers at 8.43 pm and was threatened against informing police.

On November 19, Utkarsh was found dead in a drain in Geeta Colony.
“As the deceased was wearing a school uniform, Utkarsh’s family members were called to the spot. The deceased was identified as Utkarsh by his father,” Kumar added.

Over 10 police teams were constituted for an investigation in Delhi and two teams were sent to Uttar Pradesh.

An initial probe indicated the involvement of a person known to Utkarsh or his family.
Footages of nearby CCTV cameras were also analysed and the suspected persons were interrogated at length.

Technical analysis revealed that the first ransom call was made from near Geeta Colony Pushta and the second from the vicinity of V3S East Center Mall in Laxmi Nagar.

The police teams also found that Pratap and his father Anil Thakur were well known to the Verma family. Anil, a builder, was employed by Mukesh to construct the house.
“Pratap was in dire need of money and his location was also found near the places from where ransom calls were made,” Kumar said.

Pratap was detained on the basis of suspicion, but tried to mislead police during interrogation.

On sustained grilling, he broke down and confessed to have committed the crime with Siddharth.

They knew it would be easy to kidnap Utkarsh and to keep a watch on the activities of his family.

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(Published 26 November 2014, 03:10 IST)

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