The police said Harsh Kumar Verma, a student of Class II, was kidnapped by a person who belonged to his father’s village and had lived with the family some time ago.

Harsh’s mother, Rekha, had dropped him at the Government School in New Kondli at 8 am on Thursday. When he did not return home by 12.30 pm us usual, Rekha called his father, Shambu Nath Verma. When they were leaving for Harsh’s school, they received a call from a PCO, informing them that their son had been kidnapped. The caller demanded a ransom of Rs 20,000.

The police said Shambu was called again around 11.30 am on Friday and was asked to go to the Akshardham Temple with the money. “There was nobody at the temple. Shambu then got another call around 4.30 pm and he was asked to go to Noida near Naya Baas. Once again, nobody was there. He got another call, and this time the police zeroed in on the suspect’s location near Alka Cinema and he was arrested from there,” a police officer said.

The police said the accused, Achhay Lal, hails from Baliya in Uttar Pradesh. He had come to the Capital few days ago and stayed with Shambu. During his stay, he hatched the plan to kidnap Harsh.

Police officers said Lal kidnapped Harsh from his school and took him to an isolated spot. He strangulated the boy, tied him up with stones and threw him in the Kondli stream.