Panvel: Woman kidnaps cousin to teach family lesson for not accepting husband

The couple, seen here with the police, had threatened to kill the 6-year-old boy if they were not paid the money on time

A 19-year-old woman and her husband's plan to kidnap her cousin in order to teach her family a lesson and get a ransom of Rs 10 lakh, which they wanted to use to settle down, failed when a team of cops traced them down and arrested them. The woman, Shalu Singh, had married 21-year-old Vipin Harilal Agrahari five months back against her family's wish. Soon after the marriage, her family sent her to her uncle's place in Navi Mumbai. Planning to elope with Vipin, she took her six-year-old cousin with her and later the duo demanded ransom from her family threatening to kill the boy.

Around 11 pm on November 22, 39-year-old Vinay Singh, a resident of Panvel, rushed to the Khandeshwar police station and filed a complaint regarding his son and niece's kidnapping. He told the cops that his son had gone out with his niece to buy medicines but they did not return. Around 8 pm, Singh's wife received a call from a man, who threatened to kill both of them if he did not pay him a ransom of Rs 10 lakh.

Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner, Bipin Kumar Singh ordered quick action in the matter. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Shivraj Patil formed a special team of officers from Khandeshwar, Panvel City, Kalamboli and Taloja police stations.

"The caller had said that he was waiting at the Mumbai Central Terminus and he would kill the duo if money did not reach him on time. We had no clue other than his phone number. While conducting the search we noticed that the caller was moving away from the railway station," said Shivraj Patil, DCP (zone 2).

Meanwhile, teams fanned out and went to other railway stations. Finally, around 10 pm, cops managed to trace Vipin to Hanuman Nagar in Khar. He told the officers that he had asked Shalu and her cousin to wait at Bandra railway station. Another team tracked down Shalu and the boy.

Speaking to mid-day, Patil further said, "In an attempt to teach her family a lesson, the duo kidnapped the 6-year-old boy and demanded ransom. We reached the station in time and rescued the boy. The duo has been booked under IPC sections 363 (kidnapping) and 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt)."

Past story

A native of Uttar Pradesh, Shalu had eloped with Vipin and married him in July this year against her family's wish. Her family wanted her to stay away from him, so they sent her to her uncle's place in Navi Mumbai. She was constantly in touch with Vipin and they were making plans to elope again.

The plan

Shalu said that they did not only want to elope but also teach her family a lesson. On November 22, Vipin arrived in Mumbai from UP and Shalu left her home at 4 pm with her cousin on the pretext of buying medicines. After reaching Bandra station, Vipin called the boy's mother demanding '10 lakh. They thought that the family would get scared and give them the money, which they would use to settle down somewhere else.