Domestic help gets 3 years for kidnapping employer’s son

A domestic help has been sentenced to three years in jail by a Delhi court for kidnapping his employer’s two-year-old son for a ransom of Rs two crore.

Additional Sessions Judge Rajender Kumar Shastri handed down the jail term to Bihar native Sharvan Kumar, saying the ‘offenders in such heinous offences do not deserve any leniency’.

‘Kidnapping of children for ransom has wreaked havoc in our country. Tender children are used by the offenders to quench their thirst for money... I sentence the convict Sharvan Kumar for three years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 is also imposed on the convict.’

The prosecution case dates back to 18 July 2009 when the child’s father Aditya Khemka had lodged a complaint with the Kalkaji police station in south Delhi alleging that Sharvan had kidnapped his child and fled from their house.

‘All of my family members except me and my son aged about two years had gone to our neighbour’s house  to attend some function. My son was playing with our servant Sharvan. When I went to a room inside the house to change my clothes, our servant went away along with my son. I searched for them here and there but none of them was found,’  the father had said in the complaint.

The boy’s father had also received a phone call demanding a ransom of Rs 2 crore after his child was abducted.

‘The accused initially talked in abusive language and then said that he had kidnapped his son. If he wants his safety, he has to pay him Rs 2 crore,’ the prosecution said.

Contesting the prosecution’s case, Sharvan’s counsel had claimed in the court that on the day of incident his client was playing with the boy when both were kidnapped by two unidentified persons – a man and a woman.

The court rejected the argument saying that the victim [boy] was recovered from accused’s possession.