To ring in the New Year, Pawan Verma (22) planned to take his girlfriend to Macau, a Chinese tourist destination.
He landed up in prison instead.
Pawan, a regular in the city’s pubs and discotheques, had already taken a loan to fund his lavish lifestyle. So he faked his own kidnapping,
demanding
Rs. 20 lakh from his father, an optical trader in Central Delhi’s Karol Bagh market.
“Pawan’s girlfriend demanded he take her to Macau on New Year’s eve. He hatched a plan to fake his own abduction with the help of a friend, Himanshu Kumar,” said Jaspal Singh, deputy commissioner of police (central).
He was caught red-handed while picking up the bag containing the ransom money in Dwarka.
Kumar made the first ransom call and after that, the friends contacted Pawan’s father, Ram Sahay Verma, through SMS.
On Saturday, Ram Sahay Verma called up the police that his younger son had been abducted and the kidnapper had demanded a ransom of Rs. 20 lakh.
“The calls and SMS were being made from Verma’s mobile. Verma’s elder brother-Punit accompanied us to deliver the ransom. Six hours later a man in black jacket came to pick up the bag. ,” DCP Singh said. “Punit was shocked to find it was his own brother.”