Overconfidence gave accused away

The fact that the caller knew that his victim’s family had Rs 80 lakh in cash gave Harpal Singh Sodhi away.

The fact that the caller knew that his victim’s family had Rs 80 lakh in cash gave Harpal Singh Sodhi away.

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Harpreet was a frequent visitor to his 11-year-old victim’s family. Harneet’s mother had told Harpreet during a conversation that they had sold a plot to buy a shop in Rajinder Nagar and have Rs 80 lakh in cash ready for the deal.

The moment Harneet’s mother Jaswinder Kaur shared this information with the police, they had their suspect.

“A simple talk with Harneet’s mother gave us our potential suspect. We launched technical surveillance and found that Harpreet’s cell phone was in the same area from where Harneet was kidnapped on Saturday evening.

Further probe revealed that Harpreet was constant touch with his associate Harpal, whose cell phone location was also in the same area,” said a senior investigating officer.

Harpal’s mobile phone trail took us to Bhiwadi. “We immediately raided Harpal’s office recovered the SIM card he was using for making ransom calls. Harpal confessed to his crime and at his instance the boy was rescued,” said the officer. He also said that the accused may have drugged the boy as he was drowsy when the police rescued him.