Two held guilty for kidnapping two children

A court here Monday held a bank executive and his accomplice guilty of kidnapping two siblings, a minor boy and girl, and their mother, for ransom of Rs.1 crore Feb 2, 2010, while on their way to school.

Vandna Gupta, wife of a businessman and resident of Green Wood City here in Sector 52, was on her way to dropping off her eight-year-old son and six-year-old daughter to school in a car driven by the family's driver, Jaspal Singh, when the kidnapping occurred.

The police complaint in the case said the mother and children were intercepted by four men near petrol pump in Wazirabad around 7.30 a.m. The kidnappers forced the driver to leave the car at gunpoint, and the mother and children were driven away.

The kidnappers later threw the mother out of the car and demanded Rs.1 crore for the safe return of the children.

The mother told the police that just as she was evicted from the vehicle, two other cars arrived at the spot, and the children were transferred into one of those vehicles. She also recognised one of the vehicles as belonging to a bank executive who would visit her husband.

As police exerted pressure on the kidnappers, the children were released in a few hours.

The bank executive, Sachin Bhardwaj, a resident of Jhajjar district in Haryana, was named in the crime along with eight others.

The court of additional session judge Vikram Aggarwal held Bhardwaj and Surender alias Nitu guilty Monday. The other accused were acquitted for lack of evidence. The quantum of punishment will be pronounced Oct 31.