Holding hostage to earn quick money

While kidnapping-for-ransom cases have declined in the recent past, such incidents require specialised focus and a strategically planned operation in order to save the victim’s life and arrest the kidnapper ‘in a covert manner’, say police

On January 23, an 18-year-old teenager was kidnapped and killed by three persons in north Delhi’s Burari for a ransom of ₹10 lakh. The accused hatched the plan after assessing the victim’s family’s wealth. They abducted the teen on the pretext of inviting him to a birthday party and later strangulated him.

Last December, a 19-year-old youth, Kinshuk Aggrawal, was kidnapped at gunpoint from Ghazipur flower market. A woman, who worked in his father’s office, had hatched the plan along with her boyfriend and mother, after her husband suffered financial losses. Kinshuk was released after the kidnappers received ₹50 lakh of the ₹1 crore demanded.

A 32-year-old vegetable store owner was kidnapped for a ransom of ₹1 crore by two of his acquaintances in November last year. When he refused to give the money, he was strangled to death by his abductors.