New Delhi: To earn easy money, a first-year Delhi University student, along with her minor brother, allegedly kidnapped a three-year-old son of their landlord and demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh, police said on Friday.
The sister-brother duo initially demanded a ransom of Rs 5 crore from the victim's father and later reduced the amount to Rs 50 lakh after negotiation, a police officer said.
Police said the child was rescued within 24 hours and the Delhi University student was arrested and her brother apprehended in connection with the case.
Based on a missing complaint filed by the victim's father on Thursday, a case was registered at the Vasant Kunj police station, police said. During investigation, it was revealed that the accused demanded the ransom amount from the victim's father through whatsapp messages, Devender Arya, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) said.
By technical surveillance, the police found that the accused used hotspot to send messages, he said.
During interrogation, the accused told the police that she along with her brother hatched a conspiracy to kidnap the son of their landlord in August. To execute their plan, they hired a room nearby their residence in the Ghitroni area and kept the child in that room after kidnapping him, the DCP said. The accused duo then sent whatsapp messages to the victim's father and demanded money, he said.
The woman was arrested from her residence in the Ghitorni area within 24 hours, he added.
Police said she is a first-year Bcom student of Ramanujan College and her brother a class XII student of a government school.
