Police have arrested a 34-year-old jeweller and his accomplice for kidnapping a 19-year-old boy after his plans to marry the teenager’s aunt for a Canadian spouse visa fell through.
According to police, the jeweller, Gaurav Goyal, wished to move to abroad and had promised to pay ₹30 lakh to the victim’s aunt, Jaspreet Kaur, who lives in Canada, if she would help him secure a spouse visa after marrying him.
Jaspreet’s sister and the victim’s mother, Manpreet Kaur, a resident of New Punjabi Bagh Colony, Jagraon, told the police that Goyal had already paid ₹5 lakh, but the wedding was cancelled.
When she could not return the ₹5 lakh to Goyal immediately, he kidnapped her son from his coaching centre and called her to pay up to secure his release.
Instead, Manpreet approached the police, who managed to arrest Goyal and rescue the teenager.
Goyal’s accomplice Sanjiv Kumar, alias Soni, of Agwad Gujra village, Jagraon, was also arrested, but three others – Lali Dhillon of Jagraon, and Soni and Chhebi of Hansa Kalan village, Jagraon, are at large.
Assistant sub-inspector Balvir Chand, who is investigating the case, said the accused had been booked under Sections 365 (kidnapping) and 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) of the Indian Penal Code at the City Jagraon police station. A hunt is on for the arrest of the rest of the accused.