A 16-year-old boy was kidnapped on Monday in Hoshiarpur of Punjab while he was on his way to school, police said.

A red alert has been sounded in the city, Jalandhar range Deputy Inspector General Paramjit Singh Sarao said.

The police said the abductors came in a car without a number plate and forcibly lifted Abhi Verma, alias Harry, a student of class IX, near Shimla Pahari chowk.

They said the incident came to notice only when the kidnappers rang up Abhi's father and jeweller Ravi Verma and demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh.

Police teams in Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala have launched a joint operation to nab the abductors, Sarao said. He said nakas (check posts) had been installed on all the roads for intensive search.

Eyewitness Kishori Lal Sharma, a shopkeeper, said he heard some cries for help from a speeding car when he was cleaning up his shop in the morning. He followed the car to some distance before the car disappeared.