Nepali woman arrested for abducting American woman for ransom

Kathmandu, Mar 27 (PTI) A Nepali woman has been arrested on charges of kidnapping an elderly woman from the USA for ransom in Pokhara.
     The arrested individual has been identified as Sarita Lama, 37, from Belkotgadhi Municipality-4, Nuwakot district, according to a Nepal police news bulletin.
     A special team of Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal police rescued the American woman from Hetauda sub-metropolitan city and arrested the Nepali woman.
     The 70-year-old American woman had come to Nepal with her friends for sightseeing and embarked for Pokhara to visit the Muktinath Temple.
     Lama kidnapped the American woman, who was staying at a hotel in Lakeside, Pokhara, on Monday. The woman was abducted from Pokhara and taken to Makwanpur, where she was held captive, according to Kaski police.
     The woman had demanded a ransom of 300,000 euros (INR 2.77 crore approximately) from the American citizen, according to the police.
     The victim informed the US Embassy in Nepal about the incident. After the embassy provided the information on Tuesday, the police stations in Kaski, the CIB, and the police in Makwanpur began searching for the woman and rescued her from Hetauda.
     Lama has been arrested and is under investigation for kidnapping and unlawful detention, with a seven-day remand obtained from the Kathmandu District Court.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)