ROURKELA: The attempted kidnapping of a six-year-old girl in Deogarh district of Odisha was thwarted by quick police action.
With police sealing off all escape routes and putting in place strict checking, the kidnappers were forced to abandon the girl within nine hours.
The girl, from a business family, was let go near a house at Bhoipali in Sundargarh district.
She was found by a woman and handed over to a team of Deogarh police, who transferred to her anxious family members.
Deogarh SP Pradyumna Kumar Mishra said the incident occurred near the victim's house at Deogarh market. The child, with her grand-mother, was returning home from tuition at around 6.35 pm on Monday.
A kidnapper violently shoved the old woman to the ground and hurriedly handed over the girl to another kidnapper waiting on a Bajaj Pulsar motorbike, with ignition on.
The SP the police had sealed all exit routes with the help of local police stations and villagers were mobilised with help of PRI members to block exit routes through villages and forests.
He said the two kidnappers abandoned the two-wheeler after traveling for some distance and took a four-wheeler. The miscreants appeared to have failed to proceed through the pre-planned route due to the swift action of the police and tried to escape via Sundargarh town.
Mishra said they received information that two persons were seeking to book hotel rooms at around 1 am when intense search operation was underway in Deogarh district, but were reluctant to produce any identity proof.
"Immediately, a police team led by Deogarh SDPO rushed towards Sundargarh town. As a police raid was taking place at a hotel in the town, the miscreants present in another hotel got suspicious and somehow escaped. Since police were continuously after them, the miscreants dropped the child at Bhoipali and fled," he said.
Rajgangpur SDPO Abhishek Mallick said the girl was found alone on the service road of a bridge at Bhoipali at around 4 am near the house of an ANM Laxmi Mishra who took her inside and informed Bargaon police.
The victim child was slightly traumatised with no visible external injury marks and they made her feel comfortable till arrival of her parents.
Though it is suspected that ransom demand could be the reason behind the kidnap, the culprits found no time to make a ransom call as they failed to reach their pre-destined secret shelter.
The SP said vital clues have been collected about the miscreants and more than two persons were involved. The kidnappers would be arrested soon, he added.