Delhi: Engineer who faked kidnapping to end life traced by cops, counselled

“A Delhi Police team, along with man’s family, went to Jaipur and brought him back. He was counselled,” said the DCP, adding that he sent the ransom message from his other number to misguide his parents.

A 24-year-old engineer who allegedly faked his kidnapping, and boarded a train with an intention to end his life, was traced by police from Jaipur and reunited with his parents.

Police said the man did his B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT-Delhi and is currently employed in a private firm in Noida. “He was working from home amid the ongoing pandemic. He wanted to pursue his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, but despite trying twice he couldn’t get in. He was depressed and decided to end his life by jumping off a train. But he didn’t want to cause trouble for his parents, so he left home and decided to stage his kidnapping to misguide them,” said DCP (Rohini) P K Mishra. The incident came to light on July 19 when the man’s father approached police after he received a message, asking him to arrange Rs 5 lakh if he wanted to see his son alive. As per the complainant, his son had gone to Canara Bank ATM around 6 pm on July 19 but did not return. His phone was also unreachable. Based on the complaint, a case was registered at Budh Vihar police station, police said.

Mishra said CCTV cameras in the area were scanned. One of them showed the man leaving the house. Instead of going to the ATM kiosk, he took another route. “Live call detail records (CDR) of his phone were obtained to trace his last location… in the process, our team learnt he had another number, which was not known to his family. The last location of this number was found to be active at 8.47 pm at Sarai Rohilla railway station. On checking CCTV cameras at the station, the man was seen entering the premises,” said the DCP. Police said another CCTV camera showed him boarding.

The information was shared with GRP Jaipur. The GRP team and police at Jaipur station identified the man and made him deboard. “A Delhi Police team, along with man’s family, went to Jaipur and brought him back. He was counselled,” said the DCP, adding that he sent the ransom message from his other number to misguide his parents.