Men kidnap cousin for ransom, kill him for fear of being caught

A 22-year-old man and his cousin have been arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly kidnapping their cousin from south Delhi's Vasant Kunj and murdering him in Uttar Pradesh's Faizabad area.

A 22-year-old man and his cousin have been arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly kidnapping their cousin from south Delhi's Vasant Kunj and murdering him in Uttar Pradesh's Faizabad area.

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The arrested have been identified as Yashwant and his cousin Sagar, 19. Yashwant and Sagar along with another cousin - Suraj - had allegedly abducted the victim, a 17-year-old son of a security guard who works in a hotel in Delhi, for extorting a ransom of Rs5 lakh from his family.

The victim, who lived with his family in Hauz Khas area, was murdered since all the accused were related to him and they feared that he would inform the police about the incident, the police said.

The incident took place on January 20 and the body of the deceased was recovered from an isolated place in Faizabad in the first week of February.

While Yashwant was apprehended a couple of days back, Sagar was caught from Lucknow on Tuesday by a team of the Vasant Kunj police station. Suraj is still evading arrest.

According to the police, the entire conspiracy was masterminded by Yashwant, who was in dire need of money to start his tour and travel business.

"During interrogation, Yashwant revealed that he planned to kidnap his cousin as he knew that his father owns some property and he will surely fulfill their ransom demand," said a police officer.

The trio called the victim to their friend's house in Mahipalpur on the pretext of going for a tour to Faizabad. On their way, the officer said, they seized the victim's two mobile phones - one belonging to his mother - and sent an SMS to his father demanding ransom.

"Yashwant gave the mobile phone of the victim's mother to a person whom he owed some money. Later, they strangled the victim to death at Sagar's rented room in Faizabad before dumping the body. From there, they left for Lucknow," the officer said.

"Since Yashwant was missing ever since the victim was kidnapped, the police nabbed him during interrogation and he confessed to the crime. Efforts are on to nab the third accused," added the officer.