JOIN US A man kept Delhi Police officers on their toes for almost two days after filing a complaint that his daughter had been kidnapped. As it turned out, there had been no kidnapping. And, in any case, she wasn't his daughter.
When police reached the fake complainant's home in Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh, he just said ‘sorry’, leaving them dumbfounded.
Forty-eight year old Rajnish Gupta had walked into the police station on the Paharganj side of the New Delhi railway station at 9 am on June 22, and started crying.
After much consoling, he told policemen that his three-year-old daughter Navya Gupta has been kidnapped from the railway station.
Police immediately began questioning him for details. The station house officer too rushed to meet the upset ‘father’. The man identified himself as a resident of Hardoi who did small-time jobs.
“I came along with my wife and three-year-old daughter to New Delhi railways station to travel to my home town,” he reportedly told police.
“As there was lot of time for the train to depart, we came outside the station and sat of the pavement. I and my wife fell asleep. When we woke up we found our daughter missing.”
Gupta told police that he searched for his daughter on the platforms. While he had walked into the police station, his wife was still looking for the child, he said. He also gave a description of his daughter, including the clothes she was wearing.
Police registered a case of kidnapping, and a seven-member team began looking for the girl at the station. Gupta accompanied the policemen. While Gupta was being shown the CCTV footage from cameras at the station, he excused himself to go to the toilet. He never returned, and his mobile phone was switched off.
After looking for Gupta and his kidnapped daughter throughout the day, a police team was sent to his home town Hardoi. Policemen were shocked to find Gupta there.
They learnt that Navya was his elder brother's daughter and had never gone to Delhi.
When asked why he had filed a false case, he replied, ‘sorry’. He was ‘out of his mind’, he said. After recording his statement, the police team returned to the capital.
Police have appealed to the court to quash the original FIR. Instead, on Tuesday, a case was registered against Gupta for making a false complaint. “We have taken action against the complainant,” said additional Commissioner of Police (Crime and Railways) Ravindra Yadav.