Woman held for faking own kidnap

A shocking incident has come to light in Kashimira after a 29-year-old woman sent Thane (rural) police sleuths on a wild goose chase after she meticulously engineered her own abduction drama. She did this so that she could extract a huge amount of money as ransom from her husband.

Five police teams from the Kashimira police station, including from the local crime branch (CB) unit, had been looking actively for Anjali Mohta (name changed) following a complaint filed by her husband about her mysterious disappearance from the Vijay Park area of Mira Road (east).

Mohta’s husband was left baffled after he started receiving messages at regular intervals from her mobile number on WhatsApp, with the sender demanding `10 lakh as ransom to secure the release of his wife.

One message included an image of the kidnapped woman, tied up and in a visibly unconscious state. Based on cell phone signals, the entire police machinery remained continuously on its toes for more than

30 hours, with the kidnapper changing location from one suburb to another on the western and central line.

But when the police team finally nabbed the ‘kidnapper’ on Monday evening, it turned out to be none other than Mohta herself. She was about to board a local train from Mira Road railway station.

“From the beginning itself, we had suspected something to be fishy as it was hard to digest that a woman was kidnapped in broad daylight from a bustling locality and that too without a single eyewitness. However, we treaded cautiously since we couldn’t take any chances,” said an investigating officer.

A mother of two, Mohta, who teaches in a private coaching centre in Mira Road, is said to have played a similar stunt on her husband some months ago. The police is now investigating whether she had any accomplices.