City police arrest three more in boy abduction case

KOLKATA: Three wanted men – Shafique, Israel and Usman – were arrested by the city police on Sunday for their role in abducting nine-year-old Sohail Ansari from central Kolkata on April 9. With this, the police have nabbed six persons in the kidnap case so far.
Sohail, a class II student of St Anthony School, was kidnapped when he was playing in front of his house at Collin Street.The abduction was a fallout of a family rivalry. He, however, returned home unhurt after eight hours. According to DC (central) Zulfiquar Hasan, Mohammed Shafique, 19, and Mohammed Israel, 28, were arrested from Bowbazar while Mohammed Usman, 19, was arrested from Taltala Lane.
Sohail’s cousin had masterminded the kidnapping. Sohail’s father Afzal Ansari had accused the man of misappropriation of funds. To avenge the insult, he had planned to kidnap Ansari’s son Sohail.
A ransom of Rs 15 lakh was demanded for the boy’s release. As soon as the police was informed of the abduction, three persons, Ajmat, the victim’s uncle, and Raymond and Shabbir, were arrested from central Kolkata. Cornered, the abductors released Sohail within eight hours of his abduction.
Of those arrested, Shafique drove the taxi in which Sohail was abducted while Israel was the man who had hired the taxi. Usman had actually picked up the boy and bundled him into the taxi.