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‘A nightmare’: Indian-American man jailed over fake Walmart kidnapping now sues accuser, police
An Indian-American man who spent six weeks in jail after being wrongly accused of trying to kidnap a toddler inside a Walmart is now suing his accuser
An Indian-American man who spent six weeks in jail after being wrongly accused of trying to kidnap a toddler inside a Walmart is now suing his accuser, the lead detective, and prosecutors who pursued the case against him.
Mahendra Patel, 57, was arrested on March 24, 2025 — days after a woman accused the Indian-origin engineer of trying to kidnap her two-year-old son at a Walmart in Acworth, Georgia, USA.
According to an ABC News report from the time, Caroline Miller, mother of the toddler, claimed she was shopping at the Walmart outlet with her two young children when Patel tried to snatch one of them, leading to a “tug of war.”
Patel was arrested and had to spend 46 days at Cobb County Jail.
The fake kidnapping case
Patel maintained his innocence from the start, and was backed by security footage that showed he never attempted to kidnap the child.
Patel claimed that on March 18, 2025, he was shopping at Walmart when he asked Miller for directions to Tylenol. He then noticed that her boy was losing his balance and grabbed him to stop him from falling.
Caroline Miller told a Walmart employee five minutes later that Patel had tried to kidnap her son. She informed the police later.
However, the footage shows Patel calmly walking past Miller and showing her the Tylenol minutes later. She appears to give him a thumbs-up sign, which refutes her version of events.
‘A nightmare’
Patel had to spend six weeks in jail before he was released on bond. The case against him was dismissed in August 2025, with the Cobb County District Attorney's Office saying that both parties reached a resolution.
The following month, in September 2025, Patel sent the City of Acworth a notice of a potential lawsuit seeking $25 million.
Mahendra Patel now plans to sue his accuser and the police, calling the experience a “nightmare”.
“It affected me financially, emotionally, mentally. My family's been through hell. We've been through a nightmare for months and months,” the Indian-American man was quoted as saying by Fox5.
"A simple trip in Walmart to get a Tylenol turned into a nightmare," said Patel. "I went to get a Tylenol, and I got the biggest headache of my life."
CCTV footage saves life
According to news website 11 Alive, Patel said that the surveillance footage saved his life.
"That literally saved my life," said Patel. "Imagine if there was no Walmart video...it was her words against my words, and I would never see daylight."
Patel’s lawsuit claims that charges were filed against him even though the CCTV footage showed no use of force or attempt to remove the child from the mother's custody.
"Civil rights are meaningless if police and prosecutors can knowingly proceed with false charges and face no accountability," said Marc Grossman, one of Patel's lawyers. "This lawsuit seeks to hold every responsible party accountable for what the complaint describes as a deliberate abuse of power."
