Minor lured by fake Insta profile, kidnapped for ₹20-lakh ransom

Navi Mumbai police rescued a 15-year-old boy kidnapped for ₹20 lakh ransom via a fake Instagram profile; four suspects arrested.

NAVI MUMBAI: The Navi Mumbai crime branch on Monday rescued a 15-year-old boy, who was enticed through a fake Instagram profile, kidnapped and held for a ransom of ₹20 lakh. Four men have been arrested in connection with the crime.

Minor lured by fake Insta profile, kidnapped for ₹20-lakh ransom

According to the police, the minor had befriended a girl on Instagram, which later turned out to be a fake profile operated by the accused. Asked to come and meet ‘her’, he travelled from Airoli to Kalyan in a cab booked by the accused themselves.

“When he reached the location, the accused told him that the girl was their sister and convinced him to accompany them to a nearby flat,” said the investigating officer. Once he set foot inside the apartment at Nandivali village in Kalyan East, the boy was confined, and a WhatsApp voice message was sent to his relatives, demanding ₹20 lakh for his safe release.

The arrested accused have been identified as Pradipkumar Mayaram Jaiswal (24), a trainer at a motor training school; Vishal Rambahadur Pasi (19) and Satyam Shivchand Yadav (19), both garage workers; and Chandan Vinod Maurya (19), a food delivery agent. All four are residents of Kalyan East and natives of Uttar Pradesh.

The case was registered at Rabale police station on December 28 after the boy’s uncle, Minanath Anant Madhvi (55), a sanitation worker and resident of Diva village, approached the police. Officers said the complaint was filed by relatives as the victim’s father was unwell at the time.

Taking serious note of the kidnapping, special teams were formed to trace the minor. CCTV footage from the area showed the boy travelling in a white Wagon R car. Technical analysis helped the police trace the cab driver, who revealed that the vehicle had been booked online from Airoli to Nandivli village in Kalyan.

Further scrutiny of CCTV footage from the drop-off point showed four youths escorting the boy into Sai Aradhana Apartment in Rajaram Nagar. Crime Branch Unit-1 conducted a search of the premises and found the minor confined in Room No 1 along with the accused. He was rescued unharmed and reunited with his parents.

The accused were produced before a judicial magistrate and remanded to police custody up to December 31. The case has been registered against them under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and further investigation is underway to determine whether the accused were involved in similar crimes or operated other fake social media profiles.

The investigating officer said that Jaiswal, the main accused, had been similarly scammed a few months earlier, and decided to replicate the modus operandi for a quick buck. “He roped in the other three, created the fake Instagram profile and befriended the boy, using a girl’s name,” said the officer.