A seven-year-old boy was kidnapped from the high security Gandhi Maidan area in Patna on Monday.

The boy, a class 1 student who has been identified as Shreya, was on way to Christ Church school from his residence at Kankarbagh area.

Five other children were also travelling in the car.

Three motorcycle-borne persons stopped the car pool at gunpoint near a posh hotel in the Gandhi Maidan area and took him away, ADG (Headquarters) Neelmani said.

"The driver of the vehicle was forced to stop the vehicle after armed criminals threatened to kill the children and kidnapped Shreya without hurting anybody," a police official of Gandhi Maidan police station said.

Police have launched an operation to recover the kidnapped boy. Shreya was kidnapped barely metres away from where Patna District Magistrate and Senior Superintendent of Police reside.