Main accused in Anant kidnapping case arrested

Noida, Nov 19 (UNI) In a major breakthrough, prime accused in the Anant kidnapping case Dev alias Chhatrapal Singh was arrested here today.

Gautam Buddha Nagar SSP K S Rathore said Dev, who had hatched the conspiracy to kidnap the three-year-old boy, was arrested from the 'Pushta Nallah' area between Sector 14 and 15.

Dr Rathore said the accused was an aspiring film actor and wanted to make it big in the Mumbai film industry with the ransom money.

''He wanted to marry his long-time girl friend and settle down in Mumbai,'' the SSP added.

Police recovered the phone from which the ransom calls were made.

Other accused in the case, Pawan, is still absconding.

Dr Rathore said Vijay Chauhan, who was named as a suspect, had no connection with the crime.

Dev, who was brought before the media at the press conference, admitted to having kidnapped the child for the money.

''We kidnapped the boy for money abd we haf been monitoring his movement for four days before the kidnapping,'' he revealed.

Dev is the younger sibling of Jitendra, who was arrested soon after Anant appeared at his house under mysterious circumstances on Friday.

A school drop out, Dev claimed that he had also acted in a telefilm in Mumbai, Dr Rathore said.

''He had seen the movie 'Dhoom' and since then had been toying with the idea of committing the crime using a motorcycle,'' he said.

On November 7, he had stolen the motorcycle, which he used in the crime, from Delhi's New Ashok Nagar area, where he lived with his family.

After kidnapping Anant on November 13 from here, the accused with his accomplice had taken the child to Hardoi, from where Pawan belonged, for one night, then moved him to Etanagar for a day and spent two days in Temples of Goverdhan in Mathura, police said.

During the ransom calls, Dev had instructed Mr Naresh Gupta to deliver Rs 60 lakh in Mumbai.

''Anant's uncle Lalit Gupta had immediately left for Mumbai in an early morning train... They had primised to release the child in the train. But soon Mr Lalit Gupta got a call to drop the money on the Meerut station....,'' the police official said.

Both Jitendra and Chattarpal help their father run a Mother Dairy booth in sector 15 A of Noida, opposite the Guptas' house.

On Friday night, police had recovered Rs 50 lakh from a person arrested in connection with the kidnapping.

The money was found in Belana village of Kakod in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahar district after police interrogated Jitendra.

After Anant returned home on Friday, his father Naresh Gupta told a press conference that a ransom demand of Rs 60 lakh had been made but he didn't pay the kidnappers.

However, Anant's uncle Lalit Gupta told a private news channel that the family told the STF that they were paying Rs 50 lakh to the kidnappers and were confident that the authorities would recover the money later.

Police claimed that it took custody of Anant in Kakori and brought him home accompanied by a policeman in an autorickshaw according to a ''strategy.'' UNI XC/NR VD DB2017