Woman plans son’s kidnap to get out of marriage, held
STAGED Married off to a man much older to her, the woman staged son’s kidnapping with her relatives and ‘tutored’ the son to respond to police’s questions after his release
NEW DELHI: Looking to separate from her husband because of their 20-year age difference and domestic fights, a young woman allegedly staged the kidnapping of her seven-year-old son in outer Delhi’s Bhalswa Dairy, police said on Sunday.
The 25-year-old woman compelled her son to be a part of the plan and “tutored” him to respond to police’s questions after his release, said Aslam Khan, deputy commissioner of police (north-west). The boy allegedly played as per the script for a while before revealing it all to the police.
The police pressure and constant raids forced the kidnappers to abandon the boy on a road on Saturday — two days after he disappeared while playing outside his home in Bhalswa Dairy. The boy’s mother, maternal aunt and uncle have been arrested for staging the kidnapping in which a ransom of ₹1.5 lakh was demanded from his father.
The seven-year-old boy is the only child of his parents. His mother is the second wife of his 45-year-old father.
“The woman was unhappy in the marriage because she had been married off to a man much older to her. So, she planned to kidnap her son, collect the ransom money and then run away with her child and cash,” said the DCP based on the woman’s interrogation. So, she allegedly roped in her sister and some other relatives to execute the fake kidnapping.
Explaining the case, police said the boy had gone missing on Thursday evening. His family had searched for him before approaching the police. A kidnapping case was subsequently regis- tered. A few hours later while cleaning the house, the boy’s stepsister found a hand-written letter which said that the child had been kidnapped in response to a land-related dispute involving the family.
“A ransom demand of ₹1.5 lakh was made in that letter,” said the DCP. The next day on Friday, the family found another letter which warned against involving the cops and said the money had to be delivered in Jahangirpuri.
“We found the behaviour of the boy’s mother suspicious as she often made-up stories. One such story was that she had encountered the kidnappers in a park. We investigated further to realise she did not get along with her husband and was looking to leave him. We also found out that she had been using a neighbour’s phone to make calls to her relatives,” said the DCP.
When it was time to deliver the ransom money on Saturday afternoon, the boy’s mother offered to carry the cash to the kidnappers. The police immediately took the boy’s father into confidence and asked him to alert about any suspicious activities by his wife.
As the woman left with the cash, around 50 policemen wearing plainclothes on motorcycles trailed her. “We had some of our top officers such as additional DCP, ACP, special staff inspectors and Adarsh Nagar SHO keeping a tab,” said the DCP.
The woman moved swiftly with the money, but soon realised that she was being trailed. “When she was unable to get rid of the tail, she borrowed a mobile phone from a roadside vendor and scolded her husband for allowing police to follow her,” said the DCP.
The husband alerted the police. The police immediately began conducting raids at her relatives’ homes. Aware of the development, the woman gave up on her efforts and sat down outside a temple.
The pressure on the woman held and the boy was abandoned on the roadside in Jahangirpuri within minutes of the raids. “When we questioned the boy, he repeated what his mother had taught him. He said he had been kidnapped by unidentified persons who tied his limbs and dumped him in a room,” said the DCP.
But the boy was clearly coming across as tutored, said the DCP. “We comforted the boy and told him that he would not be harmed if he spoke the truth. He finally revealed that the kidnapping was staged by his mother,” said the officer.