Kidnap drama staged by Techie to extort money from father

Hyderabad: To attend a job interview, a techie who landed in the Hyderabad city from Mumbai staged his own abduction drama to demand ransom from his father to have fun with the money. On Saturday, Punjagutta police who zeroed in on him by tracking his cell phone signals finally nabbed him.

To attend a job interview at Reach IT Solutions Pvt Ltd in Somajiguda, 23 year old Vijay Roshan arrived in Hyderabad on February 16. But Vijay called up his father, N Padmanabhan, a superintendant of customs in Mumbai and claiming to have been abducted by two people who were demanding ransom. Also, he asked his father not contact the police as his kidnappers have threatened to kill him if they know about the police surveillance.

Punjagutta ACP M Venkateswarulu said that after receiving phone calls and Whatsapp messages from Vijay, the worried parents deposited Rs 1.93 lakh in their son's bank account in between February 16-18.

Using his debit card, Vijay withdrew the money and checked in at good hotels. Spending the money on food and liquor, Vijay even hired two bouncers from a private security agency to be his bodyguards paying them Rs 1,500 each per day said the ACP. Stating that as a son of a top customs official, the bodyguards were told that he had security threats.

With the demand of money increasing, on February 18, Vijay’s father lodged a complaint via email with Punjagutta police. Police after analyzing Vijay's cellphone data asked Padmanabhan to come to Hyderabad to lodge a written complaint and help them identify his son.

As Vijay called for more money, Vijay realized his father was in Hyderabad. Panicking, Vijay left the city towards Warangal. Tracking his cell phone, Police picked him up along with the two bodyguards near Suryapet on Saturday.

Upon being questioned, Vijay confessed to have not been interested in the job which is why he decided to have fun with his father’s money.