Vijay now kidnapped 100 days

YESTERDAY marked 100 days since little Vijay Persad was snatched from his home by kidnappers. And while anguished relatives turn to religion to keep their hopes alive, police sources are painting a grim outlook, saying they are no closer to locating the boy than when investigations started. For Vijay’s family, the past 100 days have been pure torment, especially on his 11th birthday a few days ago. A pupil of the Robert Village Hindu School, Vijay was supposed to have been promoted to Standard Five when the new school term started. The Persad family’s nightmare began on Monday June 21, when Vijay and his three siblings were helping their father close the family business, a mini-mart, at the front of their Indian Walk home.

Vijay was closing the front gate when three men accosted him. The men threatened to kidnap Vijay if his father did not let them into the businessplace. Fearing for the safety of his other children, Ragkummar made a decision that has haunted him for the past 100 days — he refused the kidnappers’ demands. The men ran off into the bushes with a screaming Vijay. A $500,000 ransom demand was made for the boy’s release, but the kidnappers did not keep in touch. Police said the child was seen with the kidnappers sometime later, standing at St Mary’s Junction.