PUNE: The city police arrested two accused involved in the abduction of seven-year-old Om Kharat, who was kidnapped from his residence last week. Om was safely rescued by a team of 400 police officials on Monday.
The accused have been identified as Roshan Shinde (20) and Akshay Jamdare (21). Pune Police Commissioner Rashmi Shukla said the accused developed cold feet after seeing the number of police personnel working the case and hence, let Om go without collecting a ransom. “Policeman Rajesh Parandwal received a tip-off that Shinde is dining at Hotel Avishkar in Nigdi and accordingly, a team of Crime Branch unit IV nabbed Shinde. Akshay was arrested later,” said Shukla.
Background of the two accused
Roshan and Akshay are friends and Akshay masterminded the abduction. Akshay earlier worked for Om’s father, Sandeep, and hatched a plot a month ago. After conducting a recce near Om’s home on Friday, the plan was executed on Saturday evening when Om was playing with his friends.
How police officials cracked the case?
Following the abduction, 400 police officials started keeping a watch. All senior police officials had created a temporary ‘war’ room at Kerala Bhavan to coordinate the case.
Om’s parents had received a phone call demanding Rs 60 lakh as ransom. The accused left for Beed on the day of the abduction; Beed is Roshan’s native place. However, Roshan did not stay at his home and Om was locked in the car itself. The accused had used a stolen sim card to call Om’s parents. When police officials nabbed the sim card’s owner, he informed them that his sim card had been stolen.
Om’s parents then told the abductors that they have managed to collect Rs 17 lakh. The accused then started their journey to Pune. On their way, they changed their route several times as there were police officers on all routes leading to Pune.
When the accused reached Pune, they got scared by the number of police officials investigating the case. The accused then thought of giving up and told Om’s parents that they are leaving the boy in Akurdi near Sandeep’s workshop. The boy was then safely rescued, after which police started the chase for the accused.
The investigation team included Deputy Commissioners of Police Pankaj Dahane and Ganesh Shinde and Senior Police Inspectors Vijaykumar Palsule, Rajendra Todkar.