India: 14-year-old boy faked his kidnapping to extort one million rupees from his father in Chennai

A 14-year-old boy, Babu, faked his kidnapping to get Rs1,000,000 (Dh50,047) from his father in Chennai from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.

According to the Indian media outlets, a police official said that the boy studying in ninth grade called up his father and said that unknown men had kidnapped him and they were demanding a million rupees as a ransom amount.

Subsequently, the child’s father, who owns a two-wheeler accessories’ shop, immediately closed his store and rushed to the nearby police station to report his child missing.

Police took immediate action and traced the boy’s phone, finding that he was somewhere nearby. When the police team rushed to the spot, they found the boy standing near the Chepauk railway station in Chennai.

When the police questioned him, the boy kept insisting that he was kidnapped. According to news reports, officials haven’t revealed the reason why the boy faked his kidnapping.

Later, after verifying the CCTV footage from the railway station, police concluded that the boy was lying about the incident.

An officer said: “When we combed through the CCTV footage, it was found that Babu and his friend had reached the spot in an auto-rickshaw.”

The auto-rickshaw driver was also questioned in the case. And he informed that the ride was booked online by the boy and his friend.

After the boy finally confessed to the police officers, they warned him never to repeat this action and allowed him to go with his parents.

A few weeks before, a 20-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh also faked his own kidnapping to get Rs200000(Dh10,000) to buy a car and the plan apparently failed as police officials busted him.