India: Woman plots her own kidnapping to extort money from brother

She had converted her voice via app to sound like a man to send ransom messages

Reuters file photo used for illustrative purpose

By PTI

Published: Thu 26 May 2022, 4:56 PM

A 38-year-old woman in New Delhi was arrested for allegedly plotting her own kidnapping to extort money from her brother, police said on Thursday.

The police said the woman was going through a financial crisis and was in need of money following which she converted her voice to sound like a man with the help of an app and sent it to her brother for ransom.

According to the police, a complainant was received at the Mehrauli police station on Wednesday in which the man said his sister had been kidnapped and he was receiving extortion calls and messages from her phone number.

He also informed that kidnappers had also sent him a photo of his sister which showed her gagged and her hands tied, police said.

During investigation, the police visited the house of the complainant and checked the CCTV footage of the area where they found that the woman had left her home on Tuesday, a senior police officer said.

The mobile phone of the victim was found switched off and it was only available on WhatsApp through which the ‘alleged kidnappers’ were communicating, the officer said.

Through technical analysis, the location of the phone was traced to Agra.

A police team went to Agra and based on the last location, they searched around 50 hotels and resorts. While checking a hotel in Tajganj Market in Agra, they found the woman, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) M Harsha Vardhan said.

The woman told the police that she was going through financial crisis and to fulfil her need for money, she herself planned her kidnapping and demanded ransom from her brother in lieu of her release, he said.

She tied her hand with a rope and gagged herself. She also converted her voice into male voice with the help of an app and sent it to her brother for ransom, Vardhan said, adding that the woman was brought to Delhi and arrested under relevant sections of law for extortion.