Cuttack, June 24: A 22-year-old B-Tech student in Odisha’s Cuttack was booked for allegedly staging his own kidnapping to extort Rs 50,000 from his family with a motive to gamble in an online betting platform.
The accused has been identified as Shubham Samal, a resident of Gadasantri in Angul district. He is currently studying engineering at Silicon Institute of Technology in Bhubaneswar.
As per reports, Shubham’s elaborate plan began on June 20 when he called his father and said that he had been kidnapped by three unknown people. In a distressed voice, he said that his kidnapers were demanding a ransom of Rs 50,000 for his release.
Worried for their son’s safety, Shubham’s family immediately transferred the money to the kidnappers through UPI.
However, a formal complaint was filed on June 21 (Saturday) by his sister. Based on the complaint, Cuttack police swung into action and launched an investigation to trace Shubham.
After two days of searching, they found Shubham on June 26 in Madhupatana, near Press Chhak. When rescued, he claimed that he was released by the kidnappers after the ransom was paid.
However, his story started to fall apart when investigators found inconsistencies in his version of events.
DCP Rishikesh Khilari confirmed that further questioning led to a shocking revelation. Shubham admitted that he had faked the kidnapping. The motive behind his actions was his desire to earn more money to invest in an online betting platform. The night before the incident, he had earned Rs 180 by completing tasks on a online platform and got the idea to use a fake kidnapping to get more funds from his family.
Though Shubham was not arrested, he was booked for false claim. He was handed back to his family with a stern warning.
The police have also issued a cautionary message to young people, urging them not to fall for get-rich-quick schemes that often lead to reckless decisions.
