Acting swiftly, the Amravati police rescued a 4-year-old boy by capturing the kidnappers within 24 hours in Ahmednagar, hundreds of kilometers away, on Friday. Police suspect that the kidnapping was the work of a family member, the boy’s paternal grandmother.

Four-year-old Anay Ankit Lunia, a resident of Sharda Nagar, was kidnapped by two people on a motorcycle from the town around 8 pm Thursday when he was taken for a walk by his grandmother Monica Jaswantrai Lunia (47).

“The CCTV images of the scene showed that the boy felt very comfortable with the kidnappers and Monica was unfazed by the event. The boy’s two cousins, who are part of the joint Lunia family, realized that something was wrong and one of them raised the alarm. But the kidnappers fled, ”said Amravati Police Commissioner Arti Singh, who led the investigation.

“We suspect that it could be the work of a relative since the child did not raise any alarm. The family members had no doubts about anyone, whether from the family or outside … Then we asked all the family members to hand over their mobile phones and we found out that Monica, who is Ankit’s grandmother, was in long conversations with one Hina Shakir Sheikh aka Hina Aniket Deshpande on the day of the kidnapping. Monica, who is also a native of Ahmednagar, said that Hina was her friend. So we immediately tracked down his mobile location and found out he was in Ahmednagar. We alerted Ahmednagar Police Superintendent Manoj Patil, who pressured his men to act, leading to Hina’s arrest on Friday night, ”Singh said.

A team of the Amravati police also arrived in Ahmednagar. Hina told police that the boy was with an Asif Sheikh, who was hiding in a poor neighborhood in Ahmednagar. “Our men were able to quickly focus on Asif and free Anay. All of this was done at the last minute when Asif was about to flee to Mumbai along with the boy, ”Singh said.

Monica has yet to confess to her involvement in the crime, the police officer said.

“Monica is the stepmother of Anay’s father and she asked the family for money to send to her parents in Ahmednagar, who are poor … Monica was born Muslim but was raised by a Hindu family in Ahmednagar, to whom she used to send the money,” she said. Singh.

But lately, the family had cut the money, prompting Monica to come up with a plan to kidnap Anay for ransom, which would be divided equally among all those involved in the crime, police said.

Hina, who is married to a Hindu, used to visit the Lunias, and therefore the boy knew her, police said. She had arrived in Amravati two days earlier, along with two others, Almash Sheikh, 18, and Musahib Sheikh, 21. Accompanied by Almash, she had allegedly taken Sharda Nagar’s child. The two then left the bike near a private bus stop, from where they traveled to Ahmednagar in a car, police said.

“The kidnappers planned to demand a ransom of 4 million rupees, but they did not ask for the same until they were arrested,” Singh said.

Later, it was revealed that the whole plan was hatched under the direction of an Ahmednagar criminal, Israr Sheikh Mukhtar Sheikh aka Taklu. “Taklu has 19 different crimes, including kidnapping, registered in his name and he is currently on the run. We are tracking his whereabouts, ”Singh said.