LUCKNOW: “Anyone who can only think of one way to spell a word lacks imagination.” That Mark Twain said 117 years ago may not be known to cops in UP’s Hardoi, but they cannot agree more with the idea.
A spelling and a lack of imagination helped them crack a ‘staged’ abduction case wherein a man tried to con his brother for an amount of Rs 50,000.
It all began when Sanjay Kumar, a contractor in the construction business, informed police that his younger brother Sandeep had been abducted, and that he had received a video of his brother in captivity and a ransom note saying if Rs 50,000 was not paid, it would result in his ‘deth’ (sic).
The 13-second video showed Sandeep, who has been working at a sugarcane weighing centre in Mirzapur for the past one month, tied to a tree with a rope, said Hardoi SP Neeraj Jadaun.
“The word death misspelt in the note Sanjay had received gave us a clue that the abductors weren’t educated,” the SP said. What the police found odd was that the ransom amount demanded was too little vis-à-vis Sanjay’s financial status. “Also, Sandeep did not have enmity with anybody nor any personal issues in the family,” Jadaun added.
Police mounted a search and located Sandeep near Rupapur. Upon questioning, he was not able to give any satisfactory answer, raising suspicion.
Unable to find a reasonable motive behind his abduction, the SP decided to take a shot and asked Sandeep to write an application. While dictating, Jadaun deliberately inserted the word ‘death’, which Sandeep spelt as ‘deth’, thus giving him away.
Upon being grilled, he admitted that he had staged his own abduction to get some money from his “wealthy” elder brother. He told cops that he had hit an elderly man with his bike, and had to pay Rs 80,000 to him for medical expenses. He also had to sell his bike. Sandeep told cops that he then hatched the plan to get money from his brother, who would have otherwise refused him.
Police have detained Sandeep and will be initiating legal action against him.
