21-year-old man faked abduction to avoid going to work

Bengaluru, Apr 11: Police have solved the “abduction” of a 21-year-old man from the busy Jalahalli Cross in northern Bengaluru. They say the abduction was faked by the man himself to avoid going to work.

Around 8.20 pm on Friday, Maruthi, a native of Sandur, Ballari district, telephoned his uncle, B L Gowda, saying a four-member gang had abducted him and bundled him into a car as he came out of an ATM kiosk. The uncle panicked and straightaway went to the jurisdictional Peenya police station.

Although police registered an FIR, they doubted the incident occurred. First, the crime spot was stated to be a road which is traffic-filled at that hour. Second, police reviewed CCTV footage but there was no indication that such an incident had occurred. Third, they enquired with the ATM’s security guard and roadside vendors but nobody reported witnessing anything of the sort. With no evidence of the crime, they suspected that Maruthi had faked it all.

Police began tracking Maruthi’s phone but it was switched off. They received a tip-off that Maruthi had called up his uncle to say he is fine and is coming back to Bengaluru.

On Sunday, they traced him to Majestic and brought him to the police station. He was counselled and let off with a stern warning.

A police officer said that five months ago, Maruthi’s family had sent him to live with his uncle in Peenya as it was feared he would fall into bad company. Maruthi landed the job of a mechanic at a factory but was irregular at work.

“He was thinking of fleeing from the uncle’s house. On Friday, he went to the factory but said he was taking off. He went to an ATM, withdrew Rs 2,500 and repaid a loan he had taken from a friend. He told him he was going to visit his sister.

He then decided to fake the abduction. He met another friend and telephoned his uncle from a different number,” a police officer said.

A senior police officer said, “This is how our resources get misused. We take every complaint seriously. If something untoward happens, everyone blames the police. In this case, only after the man was traced did we know he had faked it.”