Three-year-old Anant, the son of a multinational executive living in Uttar Pradesh's Noida, was back with his family on Friday in mysterious circumstances.
Anant's return brought the curtains down on a four-day-long kidnapping drama, but several questions remained unanswered.
One of the most important questions is whether ransom was paid to secure his freedom.
Two unidentified men whisked Anant away on a motorcycle from outside his posh Noida residence on Monday morning.
A policeman brought him home a little before noon in an auto rickshawto his Sector 15-A. The police said he was traced near Kakori police station area near the Noida-Bulandshahar border early on Friday morning alone in the auto rickshaw.
Anant's father Naresh Gupta, Adobe India's CEO, who admitted that the family received 10-15 ransom calls demanding Rs 60 lakh for the release of the child, maintained that no money was paid.
Latest reports, however, said that Rs 50 lakh was recovered from the hideout.
After remaining tight-lipped the entire day, at a late evening press conference, the police faced a barrage of questions over how the boy was rescued from the kidnappers and why the gang could not be arrested despite the police claiming to have tracked their movements continuously for four days.
Meerut Inspector-General N B Singh said one person, identified as Jitender, was arrested for the kidnapping, while the hunt was on to nab the main culprit Chatrapal and two others -- identified as Vijay Chauhan and Pawan.
The police said they got the main clues when they questioned the guard and the maid of the Gupta household, Singh said.
He added that the maid had received at least four calls from Chatrapal in 18 minutes shortly after the kidnapping.
"The nature of the conversation made us suspicious as Chatrapal was curious to know about the kidnapping and the police investigation into it," he said, adding that in the first eight to ten hours, they had good leads to the four kidnappers.
Singh said Chatrapal knew about the family as his father was a milk vendor near the Gupta residence and also said the four accused were not seasoned criminals.
The Uttar Pradesh police had tied up with the Special Task Force to launch a joint hunt. Both Singh and Senior Superintendent of Police (STF) K Bhagat ducked repeated queries about the sequence of rescue, seeking refuge under strategy.
The police also did not explain why the driver of the auto rickshaw, in which the boy was taken to his home, has neither been arrested nor questioned.
Anant was first taken to Pawan's house in New Ashok Nagar in Delhi, from where he was moved to Mathura, Bhagat said.
He said the kidnappers, realising that the police were hot on their heels, left the Mathura hideout in an auto rickshaw late on Thursday night.
The police were tracking the mobile and the landline using three laptops and the investigating teams were continuously informing the family about the developments, Bhagat said.
Gupta, who was also present at the media briefing, said he made the appeal to the media to not play up the story as the kidnappers had cautioned the family to keep the media off.
"Media ko hatao. This is what the kidnappers told us," he said, adding that the family spoke to the child over phone on Tuesday morning and found that he was being kept well.
"Anant's safety was supreme and all options were open and considered, including ransom, which was not paid," he said.
The boy, a pre-nursery class student of Lotus Valley school, is safe and healthy and is talking and behaving normally, doctors, who checked on him, said.
"Anant is playful, cheerful, active and is his usual self since he returned," a relieved Gupta told reporters soon after the kid reached his home.
Along with family members, a cheerful looking Anant, who showed no signs of stress, waved from the terrace of his imposing bungalow to onlookers and reporters gathered outside.
The boy, held by his mother, reached out for sweets that were being distributed to celebrate his homecoming and played with his sister Charvi.
