By IANS
Hyderabad : It was an emotional reunion as three-and-a-half-year-old Rohit Reddy returned to his parents, hours after the Hyderabad boy was freed by his abductors.
The boy went missing Tuesday evening, and was found in Khammam district, about 200 km from here. His parents, both IT professionals, rushed there Wednesday night and returned home Thursday with Rohit secure in their arms.
At the Reddy home in Kondapur in Madhapur near Hitec City, it is celebration time with a large number of family members and well-wishers greeting Rohit, who in the words of his parents, has received a new life.
Rohit’s father G. Ravinder Reddy, an assistant project manager with Cognizant Technologies, generously thanked the abductors for not harming his son.
“We were angry with you (abductors), but we thank you for releasing him without causing any harm,” he told reporters in Khammam.
The abductors had left the boy in the house of Bhukia Lal in Tekulapalli in Khammam district Wednesday evening. Lal’s wife said two people approached her stating that their car had been punctured and requested her to take care of the boy who was running high temperature.
“They said they will bring medicines for the boy but did not return and our neighbours, who had seen the photograph of the boy on television, recognised him and took him to a nearby police station,” she said.
The police immediately provided medical aid to the boy and made him talk to his parents over phone. The parents, who were in a state of shock since his abduction Tuesday evening, were overjoyed and immediately left for Khammam.
With tears of joy rolling down her cheeks, mother Laalasa Reddy embraced Rohit, who was fast asleep, unaware of the frenzy of television channels around him. The abduction of the boy evoked all-round sympathy for him with several people, including his teachers, praying for his safe release.
The motive of the kidnappers is still not known, as the family did not receive any ransom demand. Two suspects, including a former Maoist, were arrested in Khammam district for the incident, but they were freed after investigations proved they were not involved in Rohit’s abduction.
Seven teams of policemen were on the lookout for abductors in Khammam and adjoining districts.
Rohit was kidnapped Tuesday evening on ‘Janmashtami’ day when he was playing with other children at a school building near his house.
The children, including Rohit’s eight-year-old brother Praneet, who were eye-witnesses to the incident, said two unidentified people in a black Toyota Qualis vehicle reached the school, scaled the compound wall and after befriending the child with sweet talk, took him away.
Rohit’s mother appealed to the kidnappers to give him medicines as he was running fever and was prone to convulsions in high temperature.
This was the second kidnapping incident to hit the IT industry in the city. Earlier, an executive of Satyam Computers was kidnapped for ransom in Secunderabad when he had gone to drop his children to school. The police rescued him in Warangal district. The kidnap plan was hatched by his car driver with a few other criminals.
More than 150,000 people are employed in IT companies in and around Hyderabad, which has emerged as the second major IT hub in the country after Bangalore.