Guthka trader's grandson abducted in UP's Gonda; Rs 4-cr ransom demanded

A six-year-old grandson of a trader in Uttar Pradesh's Gonda has been abducted and the accused have demanded a ransom of Rs 4 crore, police said on Friday. A police official said the grandson of gutkha trader Rajesh Kumar Gupta was abducted on Friday afternoon. Some persons allegedly carrying identity cards of the health department came to Karnalganj area of the district on the pretext of distributing masks.

According to police, the six-year-old boy was standing at a distance when the accused persons in a car approached him to give hand sanitiser and pulled him inside the vehicle. After sometime, a woman called the boy's family members demanding a ransom of Rs 4 crore, they said. However, as per eyewitnesses, the team which had come to the locality did not have any woman.

Police are now examining the CCTV footage in the area. Additional Superintendent of Police Mahendra Kumar said on the complaint lodged by Hari Gupta, father of the six-year-old boy, a case has been registered, and police teams have already launched a search operation to trace the child. Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, in a tweet in Hindi, said if the BJP government cannot protect the children of the state, then it has no right to stay in power.