Nine-Year-Old Rescued in Six Hours, Seven Held for Kidnapping

Bhubaneswar: In a swift and commendable operation, the Commissionerate Police on Tuesday rescued a nine-year-old boy within six hours of his abduction from the Nirakarpur area in Odisha’s Khurda district. Seven individuals, including two women, have been arrested in connection with the case.

The arrested have been identified as Subhrakant Mohapatra (22), alias Basuni, Somnath Das (21), Chinmaya Kumar Nayak (22), Sandip Routray (22), Sagar Nayak (21), Sujata Jena (19), and Nibedita Das (20).

According to police sources, the main conspirator, Subhrakant, is a cousin of the victim’s tuition teacher and belongs to the same village—Panchagaon under the Airfield police limits in Bhubaneswar—as the victim, Pratyush. Subhrakant was reportedly aware that the child’s father, Arta Ranjan Kalia, had recently come into a significant amount of money after selling a land plot. Motivated by extortion, he devised a plan to kidnap the child and demand ransom.

Commissioner S. Dev Datta Singh stated, “We received information about the kidnapping at around 10:30 a.m. It was evident that the motive was ransom. Given the sensitivity of the case and potential danger to the child, we launched a high-intensity rescue operation by forming four special teams.”

As per the plan, Subhrakant lured the boy on his way back from school on the pretext of taking him to a doctor. The accused later contacted the family, demanding ransom and threatening to kill the child if their demands were not met.

To mislead the victim’s family, Subhrakant returned to the village and concocted a false narrative, claiming that kidnappers had taken the child at gunpoint. However, police grew suspicious of his version and tracked the phone numbers of the accused, including Subhrakant.

The child was finally rescued unharmed from a rented house in Nirakarpur, where he was being held captive by accused Somnath Das and Chinmaya Kumar Nayak. Both were arrested on the spot, along with the other conspirators.

Police have lauded the operation as a successful and efficient effort to bring the culprits to justice and ensure the child’s safety.