Gurgaon: Domestic help abducts pet dog, demands Rs35K ransom

A Gurgaon family’s domestic help is accused of abducting a six-month old Labrador that he had taken out on a walk for a ransom of Rs 35,000.

A Gurgaon family’s domestic help is accused of abducting a six-month old Labrador that he had taken out on a walk for a ransom of Rs 35,000.

(Representational photo of a Labrador) (Shutterstock images)

The dog, Shakti, belongs to a family in Sushant Lok-I who left it with an acquaintance, Vivek Kumar, when they went out of the country.

Shakti was taken to a veterinarian on Monday evening for vomiting by Kumar’s driver Nikhil Vinay and a domestic help Dinesh Gautam, police said.

“When we left the clinic, Gautam took the dog for a walk but never came back”, police quoted Vinay as saying in a complaint that was filed.

“After efforts to get in touch with Gautam failed, we suddenly started getting threatening WhatsApp messages in which Gautam demanded Rs35,000. He threatened to kill Shakti if he wasn’t paid.”

The driver told police that Gautam was regularly sending messages to tell them how the payments are to be made.

A complaint of alleged theft has been made at the Sector 50 police station in Gurgaon.

According to the allegations, Gautam is trying to take advantage of the affection that Kumar’s family, particularly his children, had for the Shakti.

Kumar’s children would call the Labrador ‘baccha’ (child).

This is the second instance of a dog being stolen from its owners in recent months.

On April 17 this year, a dog named Brownie was stolen from DLF Phase 2 and multiple suspects living in Sikanderpur area are accused of abducting, killing and eating the dog.

Police are still investigating the case, which triggered anger from residents and animal rights activists.