A Class VIII student of Rajkumar College, Zala used four luxury cars. Since students are not allowed to drive four-wheelers to school, he used to park it at the nearby Rajkot Gymkhana Club, the police said.

Zala was walking down to the school after parking his car at the Gymkhana when the accused, Harish Chotlia, Anand Khoja and Rakesh Khoja, kidnapped him on Monday morning. The three were arrested from a hotel on the Jamnagar highway, along with the Maruti van they used in the crime. Their fourth accomplice, Sohail, the main conspirator who lived near Zala’s house, is at large. The four had demanded Rs 50 lakh from the boy’s father Manoharsinh Zala, an estate dealer.

“The four wanted to become rich overnight and to achieve their goal hatched a plan to kidnap a rich man’s son and then demand ransom. They were keeping an eye on the elite schools of Rajkot to pick their target. After they saw Rajdeepsinh Zala coming to school in a different luxury car every day, they followed him and saw his sprawling bungalow in the Jankalyan Society,” said the police.

The police said the accused had been preparing to kidnap the boy for the last six months. They even stole a cellphone from a woman and a motorbike for the purpose. They used the cellphone to make ransom calls and were planning to use the bike for collecting the ransom.