On February 26, the police rescued Richa Aggarwal, who had been kidnapped from outside her Govindpuri home in south Delhi on February 21. Yesterday, the east district police brought Umar home to his distressed parents. They arrested four people in this case. The four have been identified as Tula Nand alias Raju (20), Mohammed Chottu (21), Mohammed Imtiaz (22) and Mohammed Ijraul (25), all residents of Muzaffarpur in Bihar.

The kidnappers operated in the same manner in both cases. Both the children were abducted while playing outside their homes in the evening. The incidents were followed by anonymous calls with the caller saying that the children were safe. The ransom demand came later. In Richa's case through a letter and in Umar's case through another call. In both cases the abductors knew the fathers and were under the impression that they could make some easy money.

On February 25, Umar -- who has a deformity in his right leg from a polio attack -- was playing outside his home in Ramesh Park, Laxmi Nagar (east Delhi). When he didn't reach home till late evening his father Mohammed Shamin -- who owns a handicrafts factory -- filed a missing person's report.

At around 9 a.m. the next day, an anonymous caller telephoned Shamin and said Umar was with him in a place outside Delhi. The caller told him to wait for the next call. Shamin informed the police immediately, and his telephone was tapped. When the second call came, a ransom demand of Rs 5 lakh was made. The call was traced to the Shanti Van jhuggi cluster. The police found out that the caller was one Mohammed Imtiaz, who worked in a nearby handicrafts unit. He was subsequently arrested.

At the same time another call was made to the Shamin residence and a Rs 2-lakh ransom was demanded. This call was traced to an ironsmith's shop in Sultanpur Majra village in the north-west district. When the police raided the shop, they found out that an employee, Mohammed Guddu, and his relative Mohammed Ijraul had made the call. The police arrested Ijraul from his rented house in Inderlok, north district. Umar was found in the same house.

Ijraul allegedly confessed that Imtiaz had masterminded the plan, adding that Umar had been picked up by Tula Nand and Mohammed Chottu, both of whom live in the Shanti Van area. The two were arrested later. They had allegedly planned to give Ijraul a part of the ransom money.