A 28-year-old man was traced to Rishikesh where he went into hiding after staging his kidnapping in conspiracy with a woman to extort ₹25 lakh from his father to get rid of his debts, police said on Friday.
The man works as a supervisor at a company based in Panipat and was in a relationship with his colleague’s wife. He was in debt and when he could not pay the dues, he plotted his kidnapping along with the woman to get rid of his debt, they said.
With the money, the couple also had plans to settle somewhere else, the police said. The matter came to the notice on June 29 when the man’s father approached Aman Vihar police stating that his son had gone to Rohini to attend his friend’s birthday party on June 25 and has been missing since then, the police said.
During preliminary inquiry, it was found that the man was last seen in Sector 22, Rohini in a hotel. A case was registered under Section 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person) of the IPC, said Pranav Tayal, DCP (Rohini).
“During investigation, it transpired that a woman contacted the victim’s parents on June 28 and stated that their son is in a debt trap and he needs ₹25 lakh immediately to settle his debts. She also gave five account numbers of different persons in which the demanded amount was to be transferred,” he said.
With the assistance of technical surveillance and manual efforts, the woman was finally tracked down to a village near Tundala in Agra and during interrogation, she disclosed that the victim was in Rishikesh and she was in constant touch with him on another mobile number, the officer said.
A team was rushed to Rishikesh from where the ‘missing man’ was traced and then brought to Delhi, he said.
“During interrogation, it was revealed that the man had taken money on interest and spent it for fun and enjoyment. He could not repay the loan amount and took another loan to pay back his previous dues, but it did not work as planned and the total loan amount rose to ₹25 lakh, which was beyond his paying capacity,” Mr. Tayal said.
