Kidnapping gang busted, 9 boys released

Hyderabad, March 9 (INN): Santoshnagar police sleuths on Wednesday busted a gang of kidnappers who whisked away children to sell them by arresting four persons and managed to get nine boys released from their clutches. Two other accused are absconding. According to City Police Commissioner AK Khan, the four arrested persons have been identified as Mahboob Khan, Reshma Sultana, Kamala alias Parveen and Darshanam Mallaiah Yadav. They were arrested after a tip-off. The two absconding accused have been identified as Sajid and Shafi.

Giving details, Mr Khan said that the gang enticed the boys seen alone on the road by offering chocolates and biscuits. Once the children were comfortable, the gang used to bundle the boys into auto-rickshaws and take them to Nizamabad and Karimnagar districts. They used to keep the boy in their custody for some time and then sold the children for Rs 35,000 to Rs 60,000 in the Nizamabad and Karimnagar district areas.

The police chief said investigations into the disappearance of the boys began after the police received a complaint from one Rehana Begum a resident of MB Huts, Santoshnagar on March 4, 2011 that her four-year-old son Mohammed Shareef was missing. Subsequently, a case was registered at the Santoshnagar police station and a search began.

The police then noticed that an increasing number of boys were being reported missing in the South Zone area of the city and began to suspect an organised gang behind the disappearances. A special team was formed, consisting of an Inspector, two Additional Inspectors and their junior. This team was supervised by Santoshnagar ACP Md Ismail.

The team got down to work and managed to arrest the gang after being tipped off. On interrogation, the modus operandi of the gang was revealed. Mahboob Khan (45), the ringleader of the gang took the help of his wife Reshma Sultana, Sajid and a maid Kamala alias Parveen to kidnap the boys.

After enticing boys seen alone on the road, the kidnappers bundled them into auto-rickshaws driven by Shafi and took them to Rudrangi village in Vemulawada in Karimnagar. The kidnapped boys were later sold to Darshanam Mallaiah Yadav for amounts ranging from Rs 35,000 to Rs 60,000. Yadav later sold the boys to his contacts for as much as Rs 50,000 to Rs one lakh.

Of the nine boys released from the clutches of the gang, four have been identified while efforts are on to trace the family of the other five boys. The police are also investigating if others apart from the six identified are involved in the kidnapping racket.