Boy tries to con uncle to impress girls online

A penchant for meeting girls online and the desire for easy money to impress them made a 19-year-old youth turn into an extortionist. Karn Pratap Singh reports.

A penchant for meeting girls online and the desire for easy money to impress them made a 19-year-old youth turn into an extortionist.

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The youth, Inam-ul-Haq, allegedly made a ransom call of Rs 30 lakh to his distant relative whose two sons — Abdul Rehman, 12 and Hammad, 10, — had gone missing from their Shaheen Bagh residence in Jamia Nagar on September 5.

Even though he had no clue about the whereabouts of the missing children, Haq posed as the kidnapper, a senior police officer said.

However, his plan did not work as he landed in the police net after the phone number he had used to make the ransom call was traced by investigators.

“In order to mislead us, the boy used his friend’s mobile phone for making the ransom call. He had exchanged his phone with his friend, and asked him to sell his phone,” the senior officer said, adding that a case had been registered against Haq at Jamia Nagar police station and he had been arrested.

The entire story unfolds like an interesting Bollywood movie. On September 5, Qamar Alam, who police said is a politician, made a police complaint regarding his two missing sons. Police registered a case of kidnapping and a few days later announced a cash reward of R25,000 to anyone who helped them.

“On Saturday I got a call from a man who demanded R30 lakh for the safe release of my children. We reported the matter to the police, who acted swiftly and apprehended my relative,” said Qamar Alam, father of the children.