Runaway boy tells 'kidnap' tale

HYDERABAD: A 12-year-old boy took the city police and the media for a ride on Thursday by cooking up a kidnap story and defaming a B.Tech. student, who incidentally ensured the boy''s safety till he reached the city from Tirupati.
The Langer Houz police said that 12-year-old Gokul Krishna was reported missing by his parents on Jan 22. On Jan 27, the boy turned up at the police station with some of his relatives and an engineering student to tell the sordid tale of his kidnap.
When the police began asking the boy about the sequence of events since Jan 22, the boy spilled the beans and said he cooked up the story to escape from being punished by his parents.Gokul Krishna is a Class VII student of New Horizon High School, Langer Houz, and left home after having differences with his parents.
The Langer Houz police said Gokul left home with a pair of clothes on Jan 22 and boarded a train to Tirupati. En route, an engineering student Srinivas took an interest in the boy as he was offering contradictory replies to questions. Gokul told Srinivas that he was put on the train by his parents to attend a relative''s marriage at Tirupati. However, when they reached Tirupati, Gokul told Srinivas that he left home and wanted to quit his studies and take up some work.
The police said Srinivas, who realised that the boy hailed from a good family, asked him to accompany him to Tirumala thinking he could convince the boy to return home. Surprisingly, Gokul mixed well with Srinivas during the pilgrimage and even boarded the train back to Hyderabad.
During the return journey by Howrah mail, Gokul and Srinivas got down at Vijayawada to catch a train to the city. Gokul then made a call home saying he was returning home and asked them to get Rs 300 to the Secunderabad railway station to be given to a person who took care of his expenses over the past few days. When Gokul arrived in the city, his father and relatives caught hold of both of them and brought them to the Langer Houz police station.
The police said that the boy''s parents thought that their son might have been kidnapped and alerted their relatives. Gokul''s father D K Premnath is a milk vendor and his mother a housewife.
Srinivas is a third year B. Tech. student of SRIT Engineering College in Nizamabad. The police said Srinivas told them that he did not have any ill intentions regarding the boy and he only wanted to help the boy reach Hyderabad safely. The police said Srinivas relatives'' came in the evening and extended a surety to produce him whenever necessary.