- Three class 6 students were recovered from a house in Kotkhai after going missing in Shimla
- Sumit Sood, 45, was arrested for kidnapping and making threatening calls to the boys' parents
- The boys were found locked on the fourth floor with masks, ropes, and sharp weapons nearby
Three class 6 students of a boys' boarding school in Shimla were recovered from a house in Chaithla village of Kotkhai area here on Sunday, a day after they went missing during a day out.
Police have arrested 45-year-old Sumit Sood on charges of kidnapping and making threatening calls to their parents.
A source said one of the missing students is the son of a politician based in Punjab's Mohali, and the other is a nephew of an Independent councillor in Haryana's Karnal. The third one is from Kullu in Himachal Pradesh.
According to police, the three were found locked in a room on the fourth floor of a building in Kothkai, 58km from Shimla city. Masks, ropes, and sharp-edged weapons were also found in the room.
They said the kidnapper had made threatening calls to the boys' parents from an international number.
The boys, police said, left the school at 12.09 pm on Saturday, and when they did not return by 5 pm, police were informed.
A case was lodged under Section 137B of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (kidnapping minors) at the New Shimla Police Station on the complaint of the school principal.
After leaving the school, the boys, according to police, boarded a car that moved towards the upper Shimla area.
About 150 police personnel, drones, and cyber teams were pressed into service to look for the students, New Shimla Police Station SHO Manoj Thakur said.
While the students were missing, their family members met Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to seek his intervention in the case.
Shimla Deputy Commissioner Anupam Kashyap said the boys underwent a medical check after recovery.
"The school activity calendars will be reviewed in light of the incident, and safety monitoring will be intensified. Both the parents and the schools need to be more vigilant," he said.
Safety advisories to all schools to prevent such incidents would be issued soon, he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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