New Delhi, Jul 22 (PTI) A 27-year-old man who planned to kidnap his niece to exhort money from her parents was arrested along with his associate in east Delhi's Krishna Nagar area on Wednesday, police said.

The accused have been identified as Dheeraj (26), a resident of Jagatpuri, and Upender, a resident of Krishana Nagar, they said.

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Upender had planned to abduct his niece in order to extort around Rs 30 to 35 lakh from his brother. However, his plan failed and he was arrested on Wednesday from Krishan Nagar, a senior police officer said.

Police received information regarding an attempt of kidnapping of a four-year-old girl at Shakarpur area on Tuesday. After reaching the spot, they found the accused persons had left a motorcycle and a bag containing one country-made pistol with four live cartridges, police said.

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The accused first came to the house of the victim around 4 pm and asked for water. When the mother of the girl went inside to bring the water, they tried to abduct the minor. However, the woman saw it and successfully managed to free her daughter, police said.

The whole incident was captured on CCTV cameras installed near the spot. The footage also went viral on social, they said.

In the video, the woman is seen pulling her daughter from the clutches of the abductors. She pushes the motorcycle rider and it falls on the ground, following which the pillion rider starts running. Later, the rider speeds away the two-wheeler.

One of the neighbours of the victim starts running after the accused persons. Another neighbour parks his scooter in the middle of the road to block their way and nab them. However, both the accused manage to escape from the spot.

The victims were doing a recee of the area since the last one week. One of the CCTV footages captured their presence in the area two days ago, police said.

During investigation, police found that the motorcycle had a fake number plate. Later, the owner of the motorcycle was identified as Dheeraj, a resident of New Govindpura, through its chassis and engine numbers, they said.

"Police reached at New Govindpura and found that Dheeraj had vacated the rented house five-years-ago. Later, he was arrested from Jagatpuri area," Deputy Commissioner of Police (east) Jasmeet Singh said.

During interrogation, Dheeraj said Upender, the uncle of victim, was the main conspirator. Upender knew Dheeraj and hatched a conspiracy with him to kidnap the daughter of his brother and promised to give him Rs 1 lakh. On his information, Upender was arrested on Wednesday from the Krishna Nagar area, Singh said.

Upender said he was in debt and planned to extort money from his brother, police said.

Police said that they are trying to nab the absconding accused.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)