Man Allegedly Fakes His Kidnaping To Extort Money From Family To Pay Off Debt

A 23-year-old man from India allegedly faked his kidnapping in a bid to use the ransom money to pay off his debt.

Karan Goyal, who lived in the city of Delhi, reportedly borrowed money from a friend to buy himself a sports bike. However, when Goyal could not arrange the money -- roughly $3,170 -- to pay his friend back, he planned his kidnapping to get the cash out of his family members.

The police said Goyal traveled to another friend's house in the state of Rajasthan, from where he made a call to his sister using the phone that belonged to his friend’s father, and demanded a ransom amount, Times Now reported.

Goyal's sister then went to the police and filed a complaint on June 26 about her brother’s kidnapping. She also told cops about the ransom call, and said the caller had demanded around $3,170 in exchange for setting Goyal free.

The cops traced the phone call, and found it was made from Rajasthan, according to the Hindustan Times.

“Our team worked on getting the call details and location of the suspected number. After analysis [of] these details, the location of the number was found to be in Shekhpur in Rajasthan. Based on technical analysis, the location was raided,” a senior police officer said, according to the outlet.

Investigators discovered that the mobile number belonged to a man named Satyaveer.

When cops confronted Satyaveer and interrogated him about Goyal’s whereabouts, he said Goyal was his son’s friend and was visiting him from Delhi.

Goyal was found with the friend and brought back to Delhi. He eventually admitted to the cops about faking his kidnaping so he could use the ransom money to pay off his debts.

“Now his friend was asking him to repay the borrowed amount but Goyal did not have money to pay him back. Thereafter, Goyal planned to go to his friend’s house in Rajasthan. He took the phone of his friend’s father and himself called saying he had been kidnapped and ₹2.5 lakhs are needed to set him free,” the officer said.

The cops said Goyal, who lived with his sibling, had no income of his own. The police added they will be taking legal action against Goyal for concocting the kidnapping story.