Lucknow, Dec 20 (IANS): A budding singer, who defrauded three persons of Rs 14 lakh on the pretext of giving them jobs, was then kidnapped by the persons he had taken money from.
According to Kaiserbagh SHO, Dinanath Mishra, "On December 14, Sushila Devi, mother of a budding singer Sonu Singh, informed police that he left home to meet someone at the Kaiserbagh bus station but did not return. His phone was switched off and she had received a ransom call of Rs 15 lakh."
Through surveillance, a joint team of Kaiserbagh police and crime branch tracked down Sonu and found him at the house of one Ombir Singh of Bijnor.
Joint Commissioner Police (JCP), Crime, Nilabja Choudhury said during interrogation Ombir told the police that Sonu and his father Pappu Lal Gautam had taken Rs 14 lakh from him and two others namely, Abhishek Kumar and Vishal Rahi, promising government jobs in secretariat.
The father and son fled to Haldwani after taking the money," the JCP said.
Ombir, Abhishek, Vishal and their friends Amit and Sumit started searching for the duo. They tracked Sonu to Lucknow through one of his YouTube posts," he said. They called him on December 14 on the pretext of signing a contract with the singer and abducted him.
"All the five persons have been arrested on Saturday. A case of illegal confinement has been registered against them," the SHO said.
He added that Sonu and his father had also been booked for fraud and dishonesty.