Comedian Sunil Pal's abduction staged? Audio clip raises doubts

Pal insisted that he had been coerced into making statements and claimed that his conversation had been manipulated to make it seem as if he were complicit.

Questions have been raised about comedian Sunil Pal's alleged abduction last week in Meerut, after a leaked audio clip came out.

An FIR was filed in Mumbai's Santa Cruz police station last week where Pal said he'd been abducted and was only released after a ransom of Rs 7.5 lakh was paid.

Though the new audio clip suggests that the event was staged, Pal has denied such claims.

The audio, which is a minute-long, has a voice which has been identified as belonging to one of the kidnappers say, "We did whatever you asked us to do, and now you've filed an FIR against us."

To this, Pal responded, "The police approached my wife after the matter surfaced; neither she nor I went to them. Don't worry, everything will be managed," as per the audio clip accessed by The Times of India. Pal also advised the 'abductor' not to meet him saying things would worsen if he did.

Pal, however, insisted that he had been coerced into making statements and claimed that his conversation had been manipulated to make it seem as if he were complicit.

The comedian told the publication, "The perpetrators cleverly forced me to say things that portrayed them as innocent and then edited the audio before circulating it. I was threatened during the call and, under duress, said what they wanted me to. I just wanted to end the conversation as they repeatedly pressured me to meet them. I was unsure how to respond, so I answered according to their prompts. They called me 17 more times after I hung up. They have edited the audio to fit their narrative. If this was staged, why didn't they include the entire conversation?"

The Meerut police have said two suspects -- Lavi Pal (whose voice is heard in the audio) and Arjun Karanwal, from Bijnor, are on the lam. CCTV footage reportedly shows the duo buying gold jewellery with the ransom money.