Gurgaon Police on Saturday arrested a businessman (29) and his accomplice for devising a plan to extort Rs 50 lakh ransom from his father after orchestrating his own kidnapping.
Police said the accused Ankit Shrivastava, an MBA from Pune and a resident of the upscale Vatika City in Sector 49, was arrested after his father Mahesh Shrivastava, vice president of a multinational firm in Sector 32 in Gurgaon, lodged a complaint with police on Friday stating his son had been kidnapped. He said the abductors had demanded a payoff of Rs 50 lakh.
“A team of Crime Branch Sector 46 during inquiry found it was Ankit who had contrived his kidnapping to get easy money from his father and arrested him from Palwal-Sohna Road. He had been waiting in a car for the ransom to be delivered,” said a senior police official.
During sustained cross-examination, Ankit said he was mired in debt of Rs 45 lakh and had to pay off the debtors. “As a cement dealer, Ankit’s business was in the red but pretended otherwise. He often held parties for friends and doled out expensive gifts to his wife,” an official added.
Two years ago he had received large sums of money from his father to clear his debts. His partner-in-crime Mukesh, a resident of Alipur village in Gurgaon, was also arrested with Ankit. Mukesh, a security guard, had conspired in the intrigue and made the ransom call. He had been promised Rs 1.5 lakh for his participation.