'Depressed' IIT engineer fakes own kidnapping, de-boarded from Jaipur t

This picture has been used for representational purposes.

New Delhi: If you want to see your son alive, arrange Rs 5 lakh by tomorrow (Apne bache ko jinda dekhna hai toh kal tak panch lakh rupey ka intzaam karke rakh), was the terse message the father of a Delhi IIT passout Ankit Gupta, age 24, received on his mobile at around 8 p.m. on Sunday in Budh Vihar, Rohini.

The complainant told police that his younger son Ankit Gupta had gone to the Canara Bank ATM at about 6 p.m. and had not returned. His mobile phone was also not reachable. At 8 p.m. he received a message from his son Ankit's mobile in which he was directed to arrange Rs 5 lakh by tomorrow if he wanted to see his son alive. He had reported the matter to the Police Control Room.

The complaint led the Delhi police to form a team and start searching for the kidnapped man.

During the investigation, the CCTV cameras of the area were thoroughly checked, starting from the house of the victim to the ATM of Canara Bank. The victim was seen going out from his house and was seen up to half of the route to the ATM. He turned to the other side of the main road and didn't visit the ATM of Canara Bank.

The live CDR of the mobile phone of the victim was obtained to know his last location. From the CDR another mobile number of the victim was identified, which was not known to the family members. The location of this number was obtained and it was last found active at 8.47 p.m. at Sarai Rohilla Railway Station.

The police team went to the Sarai Rohilla Railway Station and questioned the station master about the details of the trains which had recently left from there, scrutinized the reservation charts of the trains, checked the CCTV cameras at the entry and exit of the railway station and tried to identify the victim with the help of his family members. The victim was seen entering the railway station on a CCTV camera at the entry gate but could not be traced at the station.

Later, the victim was seen in one of the cameras, boarding the unreserved bogey of the Sampark Kranti Rajdhani Express, which had left for Jodhpur in Rajasthan. The CCTV footage and photographs of the victim were immediately shared with the Government Railway Police in Jaipur and the train was again checked by the GRP and Police at Jaipur station. The victim was identified and was de-boarded from the train by the GRP.

Immediately, some members of the police team along with family members left for Jaipur and brought back the youth to Delhi.

Ankit Gupta had done B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Delhi. He completed his degree in 2017 and thereafter joined a private company at Gurugram in Haryana. He later switched to another private company in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Presently he was working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He wanted to join IIM Ahmedabad for getting an MBA degree. He tried twice but could not succeed.

"He was under acute depression and wanted to commit suicide. He planned the same and left his home. He himself sent the ransom message from his phone to misguide his parents so that he got sufficient time to commit suicide. It was only due to the prompt action of the Police, that a precious life was saved. Ankit has been counselled and has been handed over to his parents," said DCP Rohini, Pramod Kumar Mishra.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news