BARGARH: In a dramatic plot straight out of a potboiler, a 35-year-old businessman faked his kidnapping to evade creditors after losing a huge amount of money in betting on IPL matches. Bargarh police on Wednesday night arrested the accused businessman Sunil Agrawal from Raipur in Chhattisgarh on the charge of staging his abduction to evade several rice millers from whom he had taken Rs 80 lakh.
Agrawal originally hailed from Bangomunda in Balangir district and was staying in Bargarh for his business in broken rice. Police said the accused used to procure broken rice from various millers and sell it for commission.
During the last season, he procured broken rice from at least nine millers and assured them of payment after selling it. Subsequently, he sold the grains in Kantabanji and received around Rs 80 lakh. But instead of paying the money to the millers, he used the entire amount in cricket betting and lost a major portion of it.
When the rice millers confronted him seeking their money, Agrawal went underground in the last week of September. On September 29, his brother-in-law lodged a missing complaint with Sadar police and later, his wife alleged that he had been kidnapped. She also listed the names of a few of his friends as suspects.
Police swung into action and during the investigation, found that Agrawal had faked their kidnapping as he had withdrawn a large sum of money on the day of his kidnap.
Additional SP Tapan Mohanty said, “Three police teams were formed to trace the accused who had staged his kidnap. During the investigation, we found that he had withdrawn Rs 13 lakh from his account and had transferred Rs 1 lakh to his wife’s account on the day of his kidnap. We kept him under surveillance and tracked his location. Agrawal was finally arrested from Raipur and he confessed to his crime.”
After recording his statement, police produced Agrawal in court on Thursday. Mohanty said, “A cheating case is already pending against the accused in Sadar police station. Further investigation is underway to ascertain if any other persons were involved in the fake abduction.”