New Delhi, Three people have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping a teenager after luring him through a fake social media profile of a girl in south Delhi’s Mehrauli area, police said on Saturday.
The 17-year-old victim was safely rescued on Thursday, and a scooter used in the crime and a mobile phone were recovered from the possession of the accused, police said.
According to police, on Wednesday a PCR call was received at Mehrauli police station around 5:45 am reporting a kidnapping near Saket Metro Station.
“The complainant, a 29-year-old resident of Sangam Vihar, stated that his cousin had gone to meet an acquaintance he met through Instagram. While waiting at the metro station three unidentified men forcibly took him away on a scooty,” Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Achin Garg said.
Shortly after, the kidnappers called and made a ransom demand of ₹50,000. A case was registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, he said.
The officer further said that the investigators scrutinised the social media profile that had been used to befriend the victim and traced the login details of the number used for the ransom demand.
The demand was made through a payment scanner linked to a bank account in Andhra Pradesh, he said, adding that the last known location of the victim was traced to Sangam Vihar.
Meanwhile, cyber teams worked on extracting IP addresses associated with the suspect’s social media accounts and found the accused to be frequently changing locations, he said.
The breakthrough came when police tracked them to the forested area near Karni Singh Shooting Range in Tughlakabad.
A high-speed chase ensued and the police successfully cornered the suspects and apprehended them. The victim was rescued unharmed, he said.
“During interrogation, one of the accused revealed that he created a fake social media profile impersonating a girl to befriend and trap a potential victim for money. He later roped in two associates to execute the kidnapping and demand ransom,” the DCP said.
The accused were found to be active on social media and often used fake profiles to befriend strangers. The main conspirator is illiterate and used translation applications to communicate with the victims, DCP said.
The main conspirator had also recently purchased a scooter to work with the delivery companies and was in debt. He claimed that he kidnapped the boy to pay off the remaining amount, police said. The other accused worked as waiters.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
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