The woman identified as Smruti Rekha Pani is a resident of Bhubaneswar, while her associates have been identified as Pradeep Kumar Ola of Jaipur and Devi Lal of Sikar district, both from Rajasthan.
"During the course of investigation, we came to know that the alleged victim developed a relationship with Predeep through Instagram in December 2023. They had hatched a plan and organized the kidnapping to extort money from Smruti's brother. The accused Pradeep and Smruti had decided to get married but had no money, as Smruti knew that her brother had enough money, she and her associates planned the kidnapping to get money from him," said Bhubaneswar-Cuttack police commissioner Sajeeb Panda.
Accused Pradeep and Devi Lal reached Bhubaneswar in a rented car from Rajasthan on June 17. Later on June 19, Smruti left her house. They then called Smruti's brother Subhashis, who stays in Bengaluru, on WhatsApp and asked him to pay a ransom of Rs 1 million for the release of his sister.
Subhashis is a stock market trader and also owns a YouTube channel.
The accused, using the name of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, was incessantly calling day and night and threatening the family members, police sources said.
Based on the complaint lodged by accused Smruti's father Satya Narayan on Wednesday, the Bhubaneswar police started the investigation by scanning the CCTV cameras. The city police also alerted the police of neighboring districts, sources said.
Within 24 hours, the police nabbed the accused after a long chase. A police officer was also seriously injured during the chase.
During interrogation, all defendants revealed the details of the "false kidnapping." Police also determined that accused Predeep and Devi Lal are involved in two separate criminal cases in Rajasthan.
They were later produced before a court, which sent them to judicial custody for 14 days.
"During the course of investigation, we came to know that the alleged victim developed a relationship with Predeep through Instagram in December 2023. They had hatched a plan and organized the kidnapping to extort money from Smruti's brother. The accused Pradeep and Smruti had decided to get married but had no money, as Smruti knew that her brother had enough money, she and her associates planned the kidnapping to get money from him," said Bhubaneswar-Cuttack police commissioner Sajeeb Panda.
Accused Pradeep and Devi Lal reached Bhubaneswar in a rented car from Rajasthan on June 17. Later on June 19, Smruti left her house. They then called Smruti's brother Subhashis, who stays in Bengaluru, on WhatsApp and asked him to pay a ransom of Rs 1 million for the release of his sister.
Subhashis is a stock market trader and also owns a YouTube channel.
The accused, using the name of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, was incessantly calling day and night and threatening the family members, police sources said.
Based on the complaint lodged by accused Smruti's father Satya Narayan on Wednesday, the Bhubaneswar police started the investigation by scanning the CCTV cameras. The city police also alerted the police of neighboring districts, sources said.
Within 24 hours, the police nabbed the accused after a long chase. A police officer was also seriously injured during the chase.
During interrogation, all defendants revealed the details of the "false kidnapping." Police also determined that accused Predeep and Devi Lal are involved in two separate criminal cases in Rajasthan.
They were later produced before a court, which sent them to judicial custody for 14 days.
