Personnel from the Waliv police station were sent on a wild goose chase after a 20-year-old youth staged his own kidnapping to extract money from his father. However, the plot got busted when the police started a hunt for the kidnappers and found the boy loitering in the Vasai Phata area.
According to the police, a missing person complaint was registered at the Waliv police station by Nanalal Ramcharan Yadav, stating that his son Ankit Kumar (20), who worked in a private company, was untraceable since Thursday (7th December) evening. The matter became serious when the complainant informed the police that he received a call from his son who claimed that he had been abducted by three unidentified men demanding Rs. 30,000 for his release.
Details of the wild goose chase
The boy used his own phone to call his father and send a screenshot of a Quick Response (QR) code of a unified payments interface (UPI) platform on WhatsApp to scan and transfer the amount. Sensing the seriousness of the situation, the Waliv police formed four teams led by API Sachin Sanap under the supervision of senior police inspector Jayram Ranavare to fan the area and trace the kidnapped youth and nab the culprits. The team also activated their core informer network and electronic surveillance to get some leads into the case.
Within a few hours, Ankit was found loitering in the Vasai Phata area. "During questioning, Ankit admitted that he had staged his own kidnapping as he was in urgent need of money," said API Sachin Sanap. The QR code turned out to be that of a local store. Ankit had single-handedly hatched the conspiracy of staging his own kidnapping for money. After counseling and a warning, the police handed over Ankit’s custody to his father.
