The police on Thursday arrested two persons, including a nurse, for allegedly demanding a ransom of Rs 1 crore from a 47-year-old city-based businessman by threatening to kidnap his 11-year-old son from Sector 14, said the police.
The police said the conspiracy was hatched by the nurse, a 20-year-old woman who had worked as a caretaker at the victim’s house last year for 25 days.
During interrogation, the suspect revealed that she took inspiration from crime dramas on TV to plan the act.
Police commissioner Muhammad Akil said a preliminary probe has revealed that the woman, who graduated from a prominent university in the city, wanted to fund her MBBS education and decided to rope in another person, promising him a share of Rs 20 lakh from the ransom money.
The accused were identified as Nasreen alias Fiza Khan of Mathura and Mustakeem Khan (33) of Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh, who owns a juice stall in Delhi.
The police have allegedly recovered and seized two mobile phones and SIM cards from their possession.
According to the police, the victim, a resident of Sector 14, runs an electronics business. “Last year in July the victim had hired the woman through a private hospital to take care of his ailing mother. She collected all details of the victim and his family and allegedly hatched the plan while watching a crime serial,” said Akil.
The woman lived in a rented room in Gururgam village in a house owned by her niece’s husband, who introduced her to one Mustakeem Khan. Her niece’s husband told her that Khan was a dangerous man and a history-sheeter from Uttar Pradesh.
During questioning, the woman revealed that she was looking for someone like Khan who could help her attain her goal. She discussed her plan with Khan who agreed to be her partner in crime in exchange for a share of the ransom money.
“Both the accused made several rounds of the area, where the victim lived. They bought new SIM cards to make ransom calls. The woman made a list of 10 people from whom she could extort money and targeted the victim out of those, as she thought he would easily agree to pay the ransom,” said Akil.
On July 8, around 11 am, the victim received a call from an unidentified number. The caller told him that someone called Fiza Khan had offered him money to kidnap his son. However, if he agreed to pay him Rs 1 crore, he would refrain harm his son, the police said, adding that at the time of the call, the victim was unaware that Fiza Khan was, in fact, his former employee, Nasreen.
The police said initially, he ignored the calls but the man made more than 20 calls within the next three days. Following this, the victim approached Sector 14 police on Wednesday night. A case under IPC sections 384 (extortion), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) was registered against the unidentified man.
Akil said they formed a special team and deployed it near the victim’s office and residence, where they kept a watch on the family.
ACP (crime) Shamsher Singh said they involved the cybercrime teams as well and tracked the call history through which they traced their location. “The woman was arrested from Atul Kataria Chowk and Khan was arrested from Iffco Chowk on Thursday,” he said.
The police said the woman is engaged to an executive working in a private hospital in Sector 38. Although her fiance used to inspire her to enrol herself for an MBBS course, the family had no means to invest further in her studies.
She has eight siblings and her father is the sole breadwinner of the house, the police said.