Muscat: Close on the heels of an Indian schoolgirl’s brave escape from her kidnappers last Tuesday, parents of a tenth standard boy fear that their son was forcefully taken away on Friday night from outside a hypermarket in Wadi Kabir area of Muscat.

Noel Sam Abraham, a student of Indian School Darseit, is appearing for his 10th grade board exams and had gone to LuLu Hypermarket with his parents and younger brother. “Since he was preparing for the examinations, he preferred to stay in the car and study while his parents shopped,” Benny Mathai, a family friend told Gulf News while waiting outside Ruwi police station where the father was busy following the missing case.

The family friend said that it was a clear case of forceful abduction. “A torn piece from the collar of Noel’s shirt was found in the car and all the papers and books that he had on his lap were all scattered in the car,” he said.

“We immediately complained and police have come in full force to investigate,” he said, adding that the Royal Oman Police (ROP) investigators had collected fingerprints from the car.

“Even the dog squad was brought in to pick up scents,” he added.

Mathai pointed out that the boy was good at studies and there were no incidents at home. “He was preparing for his next social studies paper after finishing three papers so far for the 10th board examinations,” he said.

Noel’s father — Abraham — is a long-time employee as a laboratory technician with the Health Ministry and his mother works as a nurse in Al Amal private clinic.

Last Tuesday, a schoolgirl was abducted from Darseit area and taken to an isolated spot in Wadi Kabir but before her abductors could harm her, she showed her presence of mind and used her running ability to escape and also help ROP in arresting the two culprits.

Indian social worker Najeeb Moideen of Pratheeksha Oman Organisation, who circulated the boy’s photograph on social media websites and WhatsApp, to create awareness, advised residents to be careful and not to leave children unattended in vehicles.

“The spot where Noel went missing is a busy area on Friday due to the market and car sellers but still the boy was taken away, therefore parents need to be careful and avert any such incident,” he said.

He also pointed out that last week an Indian schoolboy was offered a lift by a national. “He was asked to perform an immoral act but the boy raised an alarm and the driver in panic stopped the car and pushed him out,” he said, adding that the parents and the social organisation had to counsel the boy to prevent him from being traumatised. At the time of going to press, the ROP were carrying out investigations and Noel’s father was with them, extending all cooperation to find the student so that he can appear for the rest of his exams.