Pune: A 25-year-old BPO employee from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar was arrested by Kalepadal police on Tuesday for allegedly demanding Rs 15 lakh from a woman (34) by falsely claiming that he had kidnapped her 14-year-old son, who has been missing for the past month.“The caller claimed that he had kidnapped her son from Pune and demanded Rs 15 lakh to release him,” said Girisha Nimbalkar, senior inspector at Kalepadal police station.The officer said the complainant, a resident of Kalepadal, is a homemaker, while her husband runs a one-gram jewellery store in the area. Their son, a student of Std IX, was caught cheating in an examination by his schoolteachers around a month ago.“Following this, the teachers summoned his parents. The boy was unhappy with the development and left home. His whereabouts have been unknown since then,” Nimbalkar said.After the boy went missing, his family searched for him in the area and later lodged a kidnapping complaint with the police. “We register a kidnapping case whenever a minor is reported missing,” a police officer said.The boy’s father then posted reels and posters online announcing that his son was missing and appealing to the public to share any information about him. He included his and his wife’s phone numbers in the posts.“The reels were widely circulated on social media, and the BPO employee came across one of them. He also noticed the phone number mentioned in it,” Nimbalkar said.The employee, who was in need of money, allegedly saw an opportunity to make quick cash. “He decided to call the woman and falsely claim that he had kidnapped her son and was holding him captive. He demanded Rs 15 lakh to release the boy,” Nimbalkar said.“We questioned the BPO employee and corroborated his statements. He does not know the location of the boy; he simply took a chance to make some quick money to meet his and his family’s needs,” Nimbalkar said.
