He exploited, abducted to fund lavish lifestyle

The 24-year-old man who had kidnapped a student of a top Delhi University college and demanded a ransom of Rs. 1.5 crore for her release, had earlier extorted Rs. 12 lakh from his 'girlfriend', daughter of an IAS officer. Faizan Haider reports. Targeting the gullible

The 24-year-old man who had kidnapped a student of a top Delhi University college and demanded a ransom of Rs. 1.5 crore for her release, had earlier extorted Rs. 12 lakh from his 'girlfriend', daughter of an IAS officer.

HT Image

A graduate of Indraprastha University, Abhishek Deep Anand, is used to living a lavish lifestyle and allegedly used girls from influential families to meet his expenses.

Anand told Hindustan Times that he wanted to fund his dream of making a documentary.

"I had taken Rs. 12 lakh from another girl. But that was a loan as I wanted money for my documentary," Anand, who is in police custody, said.

Police sources said Anand did not have a permanent house in Delhi and was living at a Paharganj hotel for the past one month. He had taken the girl to the hotel after abducting her.

"He was living in Hotel Ashoka in Paharganj for the past month. Earlier too, he used to live in hotels. Sometimes, he used to go to his hometown in Chhattisgarh," a senior police officer said, requesting anonymity.

Police sources said that in January, he had extorted money from another girl and used to blackmail her. The police managed to trace the family but they were not willing to file a police complaint.

"Earlier also, they chose to remain silent and paid him the amount to get rid of him. He had a photograph of the girl and used to blackmail her. We are trying to convince the family to file an official complaint," the officer further said.

Police said Anand was confident that the police would not be able to reach him and continued chatting with his friends.

"A common friend helped us in locating him. He was in regular touch with them to know whether the matter was reported to the police. His location was traced to Paharganj hotel from where he was arrested," the officer added.