Sitapur, March 17 A Class 9 student in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur district staged his own kidnapping to buy an iPhone with the ransom money that he planned to collect from his father.
He took the step after his father, who owns a small garment store, expressed his inability to buy him the device.
The minor, however, was caught when police started investigations into the case and traced his location to his friend's house.
The boy had used his friend's phone to make a ransom call demanding Rs 5 lakh from his father.
Sitapur Kotwali SHO T.P. Singh said that the boy studies in a government school and lives with his father. His mother had died when he was just a year old.
"When the student did not return home after school on Wednesday, his father and other relatives started a manhunt. Later, they got a ransom call on WhatsApp for Rs 5 lakh. The amount had to be delivered at Khairabad near a mosque," said Singh.
After the father informed the police, cops, cyber and SOG teams of the district got on the case.
"We assured the complainant about his son's rescue and a team in civvies was attached with him while he was collecting the amount for the safe release of his son," said the SHO.
Later in the night, the police had zeroed in on the location of the mobile phone used for the ransom call.
When the mobile phone owner, a footwear shop owner, was questioned, it came to light that the phone was being used by his son, who was also a student of class 9.
"A woman police officer was asked to confront the class 9 student who spilled the beans. Later, another team traced the missing child from his house," said the SHO.
The boy has been handed over to his father after counselling.
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