On Wednesday night, a family in Chennai’s Triplicane received an alarming phone call that said that their son, a Class nine student in the city, had been abducted. The alleged kidnapper then demanded Rs10 lakh as ransom from the father of the boy if he wanted the boy to return to the house safely.
Thoroughly afraid and panicked, the father then approached the Triplicane police for help, hoping to track down the boy. According to reports, the tower tracked the location of the phone used to the Chepauk area and officers immediately rushed to the spot. Police found the 14-year-old who studies at a private school in the city loitering around the Chepauk stadium's blue gate. They immediately brought the boy and CCTV footage from the area back with them. On asking the boy what happened, he hesitated answering and reportedly kept stuttering.
The police then went on to check the footage and found that an autorickshaw had dropped the boy near the stadium. They found the driver through the vehicle registration number. On apprehending him, the driver then said that the boy and another minor had booked his autorickshaw through a mobile application and that they had paid him Rs 40 for the ride from their school.
The police then checked the application and when the auto rickshaw driver's story checked out, they turned back to the 'kidnapped' boy. When they began to ask him what really happened he admitted that he had staged the entire kidnap in order to earn his father's sympathy.
He used a mobile application to alter his voice and sound like an adult on the phone call with his parents. According to the police, the father reportedly used to shout and chide the boy very often and the student decided that he wanted to earn his father's sympathy. He reportedly only asked for money so that his father would believe that it was a real kidnap.
The boy was let off with a warning and a written statement from his parents.