Jalna, Oct 13 The Juvenile Justice Board has convicted a youth in a 2024 kidnapping and extortion case and ordered him to perform community service at the children's ward of the Jalna district general hospital in Maharashtra twice a week for six months.
The Board, headed by Principal Magistrate S. N. Pund, passed the order on October 12, holding the juvenile guilty under various sections pertaining to kidnapping, voluntarily causing hurt, and criminal intimidation of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), according to a police statement issued on Tuesday.
The case relates to the alleged kidnapping of a 13-year-old student in Jalna when he was going to school on June 25, 2024, and a demand for a ransom of Rs 5 crore. The kidnappers allegedly threatened to kill the boy if the ransom was not paid, said Assistant Public Prosecutor A. E. Parkote.
Police formed teams and apprehended two individuals when they arrived at a spot to collect the ransom money and rescued the boy from a van, the prosecution said.
The prosecution alleged that the boy had been confined at an undisclosed location, gagged and assaulted. The accused had also threatened to kill him by administering a steroid injection containing the HIV virus if the ransom was not paid, the prosecution said.
Out of the three accused, two are adults and are being tried separately in the Sessions Court.
The prosecution examined 17 witnesses, including the complainant, the victim, and others. Their testimonies were considered by the Board while deciding the case.
