On Friday afternoon, Vicky promised to take the child to the market and carried her out of the house. The neighbours saw him leave with the child, but did not raise an alarm, as they had earlier seen the two play in the garden.

When Pranjal’s mother came out of the kitchen, she discovered that the child was missing and called up her husband, Jagdish Kumar, who owns a gift shop in Sector 14. Kumar lodged an FIR, after which police officers were alerted throughout the district. Kumar had given a description of Vicky and Pranjal to the police, which helped the officers nab the carpenter.

A police team spotted Vicky in Palam Vihar. ‘‘We saw a man who resembled Vicky, carrying the child. Without making any noise, we caught hold of him from behind and arrested him,’’ said a senior police officer.

According to the police, Vicky hails from Nepal. He had not tried to sexually assault or hurt the child in any way, they said. Vicky has told his interrogators that he was poor and in dire need of money. He had abducted the girl for ransom and was planning to demand Rs 50,000 from her parents.