Woman among five held for kidnapping boyfriend, demanding Rs 10 lakh ransom
BHUBANESWAR: Police on Wednesday arrested a 23-year-old woman hailing from Jharkhand, and her four associates for allegedly kidnapping her boyfriend and demanding Rs 10 lakh ransom from his family.
The accused - Prapti Sharma of Jamshedpur, Akash Kumar Parida (29), Shyamsundar Sahoo (22), Sibaram Behera (28) and Rakesh Chandra Barik (33) - abducted the victim Somnath Swain (28) from his rented accommodation in Jharpada area here, and took him to a hotel in Sampur where they held him captive.
As per police, Somnath’s father worked with the Tata Group in Jharkhand but he passed away during Covid-19 pandemic. Somnath had come in contact with Prapti in Jamshedpur. The duo had shifted to Bhubaneswar a few months back and and were staying in a live-in relationship in Jharpada.
On Monday, the couple allegedly had a heated exchange as Somnath suspected Prapti was cheating on him. He even allegedly assaulted Prapti after which she informed the matter to her elder sister, who also stays in Bhubaneswar.
The two siblings decided to teach Somnath a lesson. Accordingly, Prapti’s sister contacted her boyfriend Akash and asked him to thrash Somnath. The same day, Akash and his aides - Shyamsundar, Sibaram and Rakesh - went to Somnath’s residence in a car, kidnapped him and took him to the hotel where they thrashed him.
Though their initial plan was to release Somnath after some time, the accused later changed their mind and decided to demand ransom from his family in order to release him. Police said the accused were aware that Somnath’s family had received a huge amount of money from the company after his father’s demise.
They then contacted Somnath’s sister Anjita, who stays in Jamshedpur, and asked her to pay ransom of `10 lakh to release Somnath. The accused asked her to hand over the money to them near Ram Mandir square.
Subsequently, she reached Bhubaneswar on Tuesday and lodged a complaint with Kharavela Nagar police in this connection. “Basing on the complaint, three teams were formed and technical/digital evidences examined. The accused were tracked down in a hotel and the victim rescued,” said police commissioner S Dev Datta Singh adding, two cars were also seized from their possession.