Meerut (UP) | A former driver of a junior engineer of Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam and two other men have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping the six-year-old daughter of the official, police said on Tuesday.

Additional Superintendent of Police Ayush Vikram Singh said the girl was kidnapped on Monday afternoon and the accused had demanded a ransom of Rs 3 crore for her release.

A complaint was lodged immediately and an FIR was registered, following which police launched a hunt to nab them.

The girl reached her home within hours after her kidnap as the police had blocked all entry and exit of the city, scaring the kidnappers, a police official said.

Of the three accused, Akash, the former driver of the official, and Raju were arrested on Monday night following an exchange of fire, the ASP said, adding Ajay was nabbed later.

Two country-made pistols and a car used in the kidnapping were seized from them, Singh said.

During interrogation, Akash confessed that he had planned the kidnapping after being removed from the driver's job, police said.

Elaborating on the modus operandi of the crime, Akash told police that they had rented a car and waited outside the official's house and around 1:30 pm kidnapped his daughter when she arrived home from school in an auto-rickshaw