Raipur: The Chhattisgarh High Court has upheld the conviction and life imprisonment of five persons, including a woman, for the kidnapping of an eight-year-old boy in 2019 and demanding a ransom of Rs 6 crore for his release.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal dismissed the appeals filed by the convicts, holding that the prosecution had established a complete and unbroken chain of evidence proving the criminal conspiracy and execution of the kidnapping.
The court observed that the case was supported by reliable witness testimonies, test identification parades, electronic evidence, call detail records, and CCTV footage, all of which clearly established the involvement of the accused.
According to the prosecution, the conspiracy was masterminded by Nita Saraf, aunt of the victim Virat Saraf, along with her associate Anil Singh Rajput. Investigators said Nita, who was familiar with the family’s financial background, planned the abduction to clear outstanding debts. The duo allegedly hired co-accused Rajkishore Singh, Harekrishna Kumar, and Satish Sharma to execute the crime.
The accused initially planned to abduct another relative’s child but later shifted their target to Virat after the intended victim left town. On April 10, 2019, the conspirators allegedly procured SIM cards fraudulently from a snack vendor at Tifra vegetable market and used them in a second-hand mobile phone purchased from Chakarbhata to make untraceable ransom calls.
The kidnapping took place on April 20, 2019, when Virat was playing near his house. The child was gagged and forcibly taken away in a Wagon-R car before being shifted to a Duster vehicle near Bilaspur railway station. He was then confined in a locked room at Rajkishore Singh’s residence in Panna Nagar, Jarhabhata. Investigators said Harekrishna Kumar recorded the child’s voice to strengthen the ransom threats.
The victim’s father, Vivek Saraf, received multiple calls demanding Rs 6 crore from locations across Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. The callers allegedly threatened to kill and dismember the child if the ransom was not paid.
Following the complaint, the police cyber cell analysed mobile tower locations, call records, and CCTV footage to trace the accused. On April 26, 2019, police raided the Jarhabhata house, rescued the child safely, and arrested the accused.
The trial court had earlier sentenced all five accused to life imprisonment under Sections 364-A (kidnapping for ransom) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. Upholding the sentence, the high court ruled that the essential ingredients of kidnapping for ransom — unlawful detention, extortion, and threats to life — were fully proved, justifying the punishment awarded to the convicts.
