Rae Bareli, Sep 20 (IANS): A businessman has been arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli for staging his own kidnapping to pay off a Rs 15 lakh loan, which he had taken for gambling.

The accused Suraj Singh was working with a Bengaluru-based marketing company.

Rae Bareli SP Alok Priyadarshi said that Suraj informed his wife Ragini that he was going on an assignment on September 14 and then went missing.

The wife began calling his friends and relatives to reach him, but failed.

"On Saturday (September 17), Suraj's wife received a message on her mobile number demanding a ransom of Rs 15 lakh for his release. She then informed the police," said the SP.

The police immediately got on the case and tracked the location of the number in Kanpur.

"We also found out that neither he had any property issue, nor was he involved in any relationship. But it surfaced that he had taken a loan that his wife and other family members were not aware of," the official said.

The police, through surveillance, learnt that Suraj was involved in 'online gambling' and then arrested him.