As the police cordoned off the village, the abductors, who were trying to shift the students to another place, tried to flee.

After night-long searches, the police were able to rescue the boys and arrest two kidnappers, Sachin Rathee and Shiv Kumar alias Bittoo. A country-made pistol and a knife were seized from them.

While Kumar worked in the same company as the boys' mother, an unemployed graduate Rathee used to visit him in that office.

'We are trying to nab two other kidnappers, Sunil and Anil of Betia district in Bihar. These youth committed the crime due to their lure for easy money,' a police official said.

'It is suspected that the mastermind behind the incident is some fifth person, who may be from Bihar. This will be established only after interrogation of the accused,' the police official added.

The police were able to recover the Toyota Innova also.