Man fakes abduction in Noida to extort ₹20L from family, held

To repay the debt, he orchestrated the abduction, assuming that his parents would sell their six bighas of land to pay the ransom

A 22-year-old man was arrested for staging his own abduction to extort ₹20 lakh from his family so he could repay a debt of ₹4.70 lakh incurred while playing online games, Noida police said on Sunday.

The accused, a graduate from Patiyali town in Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh, was traced and found in Solan’s industrial area Baddi, Himachal, on Saturday. (Representational image)

The accused, identified as Asharam Kumar, a graduate from Patiyali town in Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh, was traced and found in Solan’s industrial area, Baddi, on Saturday, officers added. Police said Kumar faked his abduction while visiting a relative’s house in Noida, Phase 2, on September 17.

“On September 13, my elder brother left home to visit our brother-in-law’s home in Noida, Nayagaon in Phase 2. After four days of stay, on September 17, when he was returning to our hometown, he went missing, and I received a threat message from my brother’s WhatsApp, demanding a ransom of ₹20 lakh as he had been abducted,” reads the FIR filed by Kumar’s brother.

Initially, the family approached Kasganj police but were advised to lodge a complaint with Noida police, since the disappearance occurred in their jurisdiction, officers said. Phase 2 police registered a missing person complaint and formed multiple teams to trace him.

Investigators later noticed a clue in the photos. “When Kumar’s family shared his image, in which he was seen tied from head to toe, we spotted a locally handcrafted tile in the background,” said Vindyachal Tiwari, station house officer (SHO), Phase 2. As his family informed police that Kumar had worked in the Solan industrial area around two years ago, a team followed the tile clue to Baddi.

Police said Kumar was only communicating with his brother through WhatsApp, while his phone remained switched off. “As his last location ended around 60 kilometres away from the spot, a team reached Baddi, where locally crafted tiles were used, and scanned more than 50 houses for two days. When a house tile matched the one in the picture he sent, the entire house was searched, and he was found resting in one room,” SHO Tiwari said.

The investigation revealed Kumar had been playing online games for four to five years. He lost ₹4.70 lakh in a colour prediction game, borrowing from multiple people under the pretext of emergencies. “To repay the debt, he orchestrated the abduction, assuming that his parents would sell their six bighas of land to pay the ransom,” SHO Tiwari said. Police added that Kumar asked a local man to click staged photos of him as the victim.

A case under Section 308(5) (extortion) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has been registered at Phase 2 police station based on the complaint of Kumar’s brother. Further investigation is underway.