According to Senior Inspector C K Gour with the Kasturba Marg police station under whose jurisdiction the case falls, Shamsunder was called away from school by one of his abductors, Yogesh Maurya, who told the boy that his uncle was unwell. Yogesh had been instructed to lure the boy away by Amarbahadur Maurya, who was employed at a shop owned by Shyamsunder's father.

Yogesh and another accomplice, Samir Khole, then bundled the boy into a waiting autorickshaw and the trioheaded for Goregaon. Investigations later revealed that the abductors had changed three rickshaws en route to avoid detection.

Police say the boy was taken to a relatively deserted spot at Aarey Milk Colony in Goregaon, where Yogesh, Khole and Shyamsundar stopped to telephone the Mauryas from a paanwala's stall. The kidnappers, who also asked Shyamsundar to speak with his father, demanded Rs 1 lakh as ransom.

Sensing that something was terribly amiss, Shyamsundar began to cry for help, raising suspicions in the paanwala. The latter instantly raised an alarm, which made the abductors flee.

The commotion in turn alerted the driver of a passing tempo, Kripashankar Harisingh, who pursued the abductors. Soon they were overpowered and the boy was rescued. Amarbahadur Maurya was later arrested from one of the Mauryas' shops at Borivli (E). The Mauryas own a ration shop and two provision stores at Rajendra Nagar, not far from where they reside.

Though it still not clear who masterminded thekidnapping, it is suspected that Amarbahadur had provided details of the Shyamsundar's movements to his two accomplices, which helped to work out modalities.

Additional Commissioner of Police (north west region) Rakesh Maria said investigations are underway.