Snapdeal exec abductor first tried to pin crime on her friend

The police realized they’d been had only when Mohit Singh, another suspect, was arrested and brought to the interrogation room.

Devendra Kumar, who staged an elaborate abduction to make Snapdeal executive Dipti Sarna believe he was the good guy who helped her escape and thus win her heart, even managed to fool the police initially into believing he had been hired for the job by her friend.

Prime accused Devendra Kumar (right in Green pullover) and his other accomplice Mohit were two of five arrested for abduction of Snapdeal's executive Dipti Sarna on Monday, in Ghaziabad, India, on Monday, Febuary 15, 2016. (Sakib Ali / HT Photo)

For two hours after he was caught, Devendra — whom the police till then believed to be Rajvir, an alias he had made up — had the Ghaziabad cops interrogate Sarna’s friend ‘Mr A’ as a possible suspect in her presence, police sources told HT on Tuesday.

‘Mr A’ was with Sarna when Devendra saw her for the first time at Rajiv Chowk Metro station in January 2015, Ghaziabad SSP Dharmendra Singh had revealed Monday.

“He told us the victim’s friend hatched the conspiracy. He said he had seen him (Mr A) give money to Sheelu, who had hired him for the job,” said an officer.

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Devendra, sitting on a sofa, pointed a finger at the friend, who stood terrified in a corner of the interrogation room, all eyes on him. Police sources said the friend was subjected to some “hard questioning” as a result.

“Devendra even told us to ask the victim (Sarna) if he had not supported and taken care of her during the abduction. She replied positively,” the officer said.

The police realized they’d been had only when Mohit Singh, another suspect, was arrested and brought to the interrogation room.

Mohit named the mastermind as ‘Leelu’ and identified Devendra as him — a hardcore criminal from Haryana with 30 cases against him.

“There was no Sheelu, it was an imaginary character created by prime accused Devendra,” an officer said.

At this point, the interrogators came down hard on Devendra who then narrated the entire sequence of events from the first time he saw Sarna a year ago to the morning of February 12 when he put her on a train home, over 30 hours after he had abducted her.

“Devendra is a hardcore criminal and acted in a shrewd manner to save himself. His pointing a finger at the victim’s friend… led us into confusion. But the swift investigation cleared the suspicion and the prime accused himself broke down,” said SP Salman Taj.

Mohit and Devendra come from the same Kami village in Haryana’s Sonepat district. Unlike the other three accused who have been arrested, Mohit was the only one who knew of Devendra’s infatuation with Sarna and his plan to abduct and marry her, the police said.

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