A 21-year-old woman from the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh faked her kidnapping and then sent a photo to her father with a Rs 30 lakh ($36,000) ransom demand.
In a police complaint obtained by NDTV, the woman's father said he received pictures of his daughter with her hands and feet tied up. He said his daughter, named Kavya Dhakad, was enrolled at a coaching institute in Rajasthan's Kota.
Police Confirmed the Kidnapping was Staged
However, the Kota police said the initial investigation suggests that no crime was committed against Kavya and that she had staged her kidnapping.
"In the investigation so far, evidence shows that no crime has been committed against the girl and no kidnapping has taken place. From the evidence found so far, the incident appears to be false," Kota Superintendent of Police Amrita Duhan said.
Ms Duhan said that they formed teams upon receiving information about the girl's father's police complaint, filed in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri on March 18. During the probe, the police found out that she was living with two of her male friends in Indore, about 400 kilometres from where her parents lived.
Kavya Wanted Money to Study Abroad, Told Parents She was Studying at Kota Institute but was Traced to Indore
The police then traced one of the friends, who informed them that the girl and her other friend wanted to go abroad. She said she would not be able to study in India and wanted money to study abroad, her friend told the police.
Her location for the last 6-7 months was not traced in Kota and she had not been admitted to any coaching institute or hostel in the city. The girl's mother enrolled her in the Kota coaching institute on August 3 and she stayed there till August 5, following which Kavya left for Madhya Pradesh's Indore, the police said.
To make her parents believe that she was studying at the institute, the girl also sent messages about her performance in tests from a different number. She then went a step ahead and faked her kidnapping.
With the help of a friend, she clicked pictures of her hands and feet tied at their Indore flat, and sent them to her father, and demanded a ransom of Rs 30 lakh.
The mobile phones of all three (Kavya and her two male friends) are switched off and they are yet to be located. The trio was last seen on March 18, in CCTV footage at Durgapura railway station in Jaipur. The Kota Police have appealed to the woman and her friend to report to a nearby police station.
