Meghalaya school kids demand release of their school mates

Shillong, Aug 10 (UNI) About a thousand school children, including spastics in Meghalaya, today took out a silent march, demanding the release of two abducted toddlers.

The two, four-year-old Sachit Goel and his cousin Harsha Goel, were abducted while they were on the way to School, by an armed gang who have demanded a ransom of Rs ten lakh for their safe release.

Police later detained the driver of the vehicle, one Rudal Shah alias Amar Behari.

Police here suspected the involvement of the driver into the kidnapping after they seized the ransom note from his possession.

Shah is currently in police custody and is being interrogated.

Police said the children were last seen by some villagers near Shella village, close to the Indo-Bangla border.

Today, the victim's schoolmates along with other school children from various educational institutions took out the silent march after the kidnappers failed to release the two toddlers.

'' I want them to release my friends immediately, '' said five-year-old Samran Hussain.

The Meghalaya police, which swung into action since day one, is still putting all efforts to rescue the duo from the clutches of the abductors.

Chief Minister J D Rymbai, who also expressed his concern, told the delegation that the government would do its best to secure the children's release.

'' We don't want to rush into action as it may pose dangers for them, '' Mr Rymbai said, adding police were all out to secure their safe release.

A women delegation also met Director General of Police William Richmond Marbaniang and sought his intervention to seek the release of the two school students.

Meanwhile, Inspector General of BSF Jyoti Prakash Sinha, in-charge Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland frontier, said the BSF had taken up the matter with the Bangladesh Rifles to secure the release of the two children.

In this regard, he said the BSF and BDR also held a flag meeting to discuss the issue.

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