The police used a messaging app to search for the parents of a seven-month old boy who was kidnapped from Azad Maidan on Wednesday.
Why has the reporter used was instead of had been?
It should be:
The police used a messaging app to search for the parents of a seven-month old boy who had been kidnapped from Azad Maidan on Wednesday .
Justification
Had been (the past perfect) is used to describe an action that happened in past in past. In the above sentence, the first activity was kidnapping and the second activity was sending the message. Hence, the reporter should use had been, but instead he used was. Please explain.
Actual Activity
Wednesday morning ---> Boy was kidnapped
Wednesday afternoon ---> Police used messaging app to search for parents
Reported speech
Wednesday morning ---> Boy had been kidnapped
Wednesday afternoon ---> Police used messaging app to search for parents