CHANDIGARH: A 13-year-old boy from Himachal Pradesh who was living with his parents in Punjab, allegedly abducted by a tuition teacher about a month ago, has been rescued by Punjab police.
The kidnapper has been arrested from Darjeeling in West Bengal, officials said on Sunday.
The minor was studying in Class VII and used to take tuition everyday between 3 pm and 7.30 pm from Bhupinder Singh, a resident of Dashmesh Nagar in Hoshiarpur.
Singh, convinced the boy's parents to allow him to take the child to Shimla in Himachal Pradesh for two days. He blocked all contacts with the family and did not let the child speak to anyone.
Station House Officer of Model Town Police Station in Hoshiarpur, Sub-Inspector Gursahib Singh, said that the boy, who belongs to Kangra in Himachal Pradesh, was presently living with his parents in a rented accommodation in Hoshiarpur.
The parents searched for the child for 18 days and they got in touch with the police when they failed to trace the child.
An FIR was registered at the Model Town Police Station on April 2 under relevant provisions of the law that deal with the punishment for kidnapping or abducting someone with the intent to secretly confine them.
The state police started to search for the boy and his teacher, Singh, who kept changing his location frequently to evade arrest. Eventually, police located him at a hotel in Darjeeling, West Bengal and arrested him on April 25.
The police said the accused had taken the boy close to the Nepal border and there was a strong possibility that he could have crossed over into Nepal with the child.
The rescued boy has been produced before the Child Welfare Committee, while the accused was presented before a court, which remanded him in four-day police custody for further interrogation.
The police are investigating the motive behind the kidnapping.
(With inputs from PTI)