Four arrested for fake abduction-robbery incident

New Delhi, Jun 29 (PTI) Delhi Police arrested four people after a complaint of abduction and robbery filed by a man turned out to be a fabricated story, an official said on Sunday.
     According to the police, the joint team of Govindpuri police station and the Anti Robbery Cell of Southeast Delhi cracked the case, recovering about 70 grams of gold, 20 grams of silver and a motorcycle used in the incident.
     "The complainant, Mantu Mandal, had called the police in the early hours of June 27 claiming he had been abducted and robbed by two men who posed as police officers," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Aishwarya Sharma said in a press conference.
     She said that the victim alleged that the two bikers came to his house, from where they stole his gold, abducted him and abandoned him about a kilometre away before fleeing.
     Based on the complaint, a case was registered and an investigation was launched.
     "A joint team was formed. CCTV footage from Mandal's locality and nearby areas were scanned, revealing that two bikers had visited his house and left with him and a bag within minutes," said the Additional DCP.
     Using surveillance and field investigation, the police identified the two suspects as Raj Kumar and Sarfaraz, and tracked them along with an associate, Raju, who was also detained for questioning.
     "During sustained interrogation, the bikers disclosed that the entire plot was staged by the complainant himself," she said.
     Mandal, a construction site contractor, had taken an old almirah from its owner, Jitender, about a month ago. On June 25, he sold it to a scrap dealer who discovered gold inside. The dealer informed both Mandal and Jitender about the gold.
     Instead of returning the gold to its rightful owner, Mandal conspired with his friend Raju to keep it by staging the robbery-abduction.
     "Raju arranged for two men, Raj Kumar and Sarfaraz, who visited Mandal's house late at night and collected the gold articles," said the Additional DCP.
     The entire robbery and abduction narrative was fabricated. The complainant did not even make any call to the police on the night of the incident.
     When Jitender started pressuring Mandal to return the gold, Mandal made the PCR call and went a step further by falsely identifying a genuine police officer as one of the culprits to mislead the investigation, she said.
     All four accused, Raj Kumar (39), Sarfaraz (43), Raju alias Yusuf (38), and Mantu Mandal (42), have been arrested for criminal conspiracy and furnishing false information to mislead police. All accused have no previous criminal history, the officer added.
     The recovered items include approximately 60 grams of gold (likely partially distributed), 20 grams of silver and a motorcycle. Further investigation is underway.

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