Top Adobe Official's son kidnapped from Noida

A three year-old son of the Indian head of global software giant Adobe was kidnapped in broad daylight from outside his residence at Sector 15 in Noida, a satellite town adjoining New Delhi, by two motorcycle-borne criminals on Monday morning.

A senior police officer said that Anant Gupta had come out of his house in the upmarket Sector 15 locality to board a bus to go to school with his maid Seema at about 8.30 in the morning. His father, Naresh Gupta, the CEO of Adobe India, is now out of the country, on a business trip to the United States. He is expected back here on Tuesday.

The police said that Seema was taking the child to the school bus stop when two young men on a motorcycle, with their faces hidden by masks, came up from behind and asked Anant something. In the meantime, they also attempted to snatch the child from Seema’s hand, but could not do so because the maid had gripped the child’s hand strongly.

When this failed, the pillion-rider held Anant’s hand tightly and the other one revved up the engine, forcing Seema to loosen her grip, the police officer said.

Seema then cried out, which brought security guards running. They tried to grab the child back, but failed to do so, after which a call was made to the police.

Anant is a student of the pre-nursery class at Lotus Valley School in Noida’s Sector 125. His sister Kavita is also a student in the same school. She was already in the school when the incident happened because her timings are different. The police said the motive behind the kidnapping was not yet clear and that the family had not received any ransom call so far. The maid, Seema, was being interrogated to ascertain if she had any information which could be of help. Strict vigil was being maintained at Noida’s borders with Delhi and also on Delhi’s other borders, and a number of police teams are working simultaneously on the case.