Bhubaneswar: Saheed Nagar police here on Friday arrested four men for allegedly kidnapping a 17-year-old boy on Thursday and demanding a ransom of Rs 20,000 from his family to buy brown sugar. The boy was also rescued unharmed in the early hours of Friday.Police said accused Manash Singh, alias Mania (20), Mitu Nayak (36), Manash Ranjan Swain (30) and Rajesh Sahu (20), all residents of Patharbandha slum, were known to the victim and his family.The boy was on his way to a Saheed Nagar restaurant when the accused allegedly intercepted him around 2.30pm on Thursday. “They asked him to purchase brown sugar for them. When he refused, they snatched Rs 1,800 from him, took him with them on their bike, and confined him inside an autorickshaw,” a police officer said.Biswa Ranjan Senapati, ACP (zone‑V), said they assaulted the boy and forced him to call his elder sister. “They made him plead for Rs 20,000 to be transferred to their e‑wallet for buying brown sugar,” ACP Senapati said.The accused also allegedly threatened the sister over the phone that they would kill the boy if the ransom was not paid. She immediately lodged a complaint at Saheed Nagar police station. “We tracked the location, rescued the victim from their custody and arrested all four accused in the early hours,” Senapati said.Police later came to know that two of the accused were earlier arrested in separate drug‑peddling cases.
