Bid to kidnap boy for prank video lands four teenage students in police net in Nagpur

Nagpur: Four teenage students were detained by the police for shooting a prank video of kidnapping a boy for social media in Maharashtra's Nagpur city, an official said on Wednesday.

The incident took place on Monday morning, he said. The four students - two of whom appeared for Class 12 examination recently and two others who are preparing for NEET, were booked for trying to kidnap a Class 11 boy.

They were detained and later released with a warning, the official of Pratap Nagar police station said. The victim—Aadesh (17) hails from Chandrapur district and is currently residing in Nagpur with his friend and preparing for the JEE exam.

Around 6.45 am on Monday, he along with his friends Yash and Vedant, were walking towards their classes in Pratap Nagar area when a white car came from behind. Three young boys got down and forced Aadesh to get inside the vehicle despite his resistance, the official said.

However, alarmed by the presence of Aadesh's friends, the accused fled from the scene. Shocked by the incident, Aadesh reported it to his teacher, who immediately took him to local police station to lodge a complaint, he added.

Based on his complaint, the police registered a case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 363 (kidnapping), 511 (attempt to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) and 34 (common intention), and launched a probe, the said.

After examining the CCTV footage, the police identified one of the culprits as Sushant (18) and detained him. Based on the information provided by him, the police also detained his accomplices identified as Shreyash, Yash and Arnav (all aged 18), the police official said.

During the interrogation, the four teenagers told the police that they were trying to shoot a prank video for social media. After the revelation, their parents were called to the police station, who were shocked to know about their acts. The police also found that Sushant did not even have a licence to drive the car, he said.

The parents requested the police to show leniency and the teenagers assured them that they would refrain from committing such acts in the future. The police released them with a warning notice, the official said.