A 25-year-old MTech degree-holder lost Rs 7 lakh in IPL cricket betting. So what does he do? He stages his own abduction in attempts to cover the losses from his father and brother-in-law. However,his schemes were foiled by Pune police,who after being approached by his father,tracked him to Ganesh Nagar in Wadgaon Sheri after an eight-hour search operation. The engineer,Navneet Verma,a native of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh,lives with his wife at Sarita Sangam Housing Society,Kasarwadi. According to police,his wife was not aware of Navneet being involved in betting or that he lost Rs 7 lakh to it. In order to pay up,he decided to stage his own kidnapping and demand ransom from his father and brother-in-law. Accordingly, he left home around 9.30 am on June 12. Around 4.30 pm the same day,he sent an SMS from his cellphone to his father and brother-in-law in Kanpur,stating that he has been kidnapped and that he needs Rs 7 lakh for his release. He asked them to deposit the money immediately in his ICICI bank account. The following day,he called his brother-in-law. He told him that he has been dumped in the midst of a jungle and once again asked him to deposit the money in his bank account. Finally,the family members deposited Rs 90,000 in his bank account. On June 14,Navneets father rushed to Pune and approached the Bhosari police,asking them to find his son. Police started an investigation and found out that at the time of making the calls,Navneet was in Pune. They then conducted a search operation in Hadapsar,Kalyani Nagar,Wagholi and Manjari. Police also questioned some of his friends. In the course of their search,they were tipped-off that Navneet was in Ganesh Nagar in Wadgaon Sheri. Eight more hours of rigorous search led the police to him at Saikripa apartments in Ganesh Nagar. During interrogation,Navneet confessed to have staged his abduction because he needed the money to pay up for the bet that he lost on IPL cricket matches. Navneets father has not lodged a police complaint. So we have not arrested him. Navneet has been in Pune for the past one year, Senior police inspector S D Kekande said.
