Belagavi, 25 Oct

Two children of a businessman were allegedly kidnapped from their residence in Athani in Belagavi, police said on Friday.

A CCTV footage of the incident showed two men entering the house and running away with them - a four-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy, they said.

Both the children have been secured and handed over to their parents while the three men involved in the alleged kidnapping have been arrested, police said.

According to police, the incident took place on Thursday after the two kids had just returned from school and were playing inside the living room of the house. At the time, only their grandmother was at home.

The third accused was waiting with a car a few metres away from the house. The two men pushed the children inside the vehicle and sped away.

The police managed to trace the route of the suspects with the help of CCTV footage and technical surveillance, and immediately alerted their counterparts in the neighbouring districts, a senior police official said.

"The police team chased the vehicle in which the kidnapped children were taken away by the accused and intercepted the vehicle near Kohalli in district at around 4.25 am on Friday," he said. "The three accused were arrested," the official said.

During interrogation, one of the accused revealed that he had invested in the trading platform of the businessman and incurred heavy losses. When he asked the businessman over Rs 1 crore following this, he refused to pay him and, so, he decided to kidnap the children, he said. -PTI