The Kathmandu Metropolitan Crime Division of Nepal Police on Saturday arrested 26-year-old Jaybhan Singh Dhami after he allegedly faked his own abduction and demanded a hefty ransom from his family.

Police were alerted about Dhami’s kidnapping by his family on Thursday.

“Dhami’s brother had called us to inform about the kidnapping, saying that the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs2.3 million,” Senior Superintendent of Police Dhiraj Pratap Singh, chief of the division, told the Post.

A native of Darchula, Dhami had been living in Jadibuti, Kathmandu. When the division traced the mobile number of the suspected kidnapper and mobilised a police team to the last known location of the caller, it became evident that Dhami had faked his own abduction.    

“We arrested Dhami from Lalitpur after we reached the destination after tracing the mobile number. He had faked his own kidnapping for money,” said Singh.

Police say cases of people faking their own abduction and blackmailing their families are on the rise.   

On February 26, police in Kathmandu had arrested five individuals for faking abduction of one of their friends.

According to the division, Satyendra Prasad Yadav, Anup Baidya, Subash Tamang, Sudip Thapa and Sandip Thakuri were arrested for staging Yadav’s abduction.

A team from the division started searching for Yadav after receiving information about his kidnapping on March, only to find that it was a case of fake kidnapping.  Yadav and his four friends were arrested from a resort in Tarkeshwor, Kathmandu.

That same month, Dhanusha District Police arrested three individuals in another fake abduction case. Ajay Kumar Shah had faked his kidnapping with the help of his two friends— Samsad Nadaf and Arbind Yadav— and demanded a ransom of Rs1.5 million from his mother.

Police foiled their plan when Nadaf came to collect the ransom money.  It was later revealed that the trio was planning to use the money to visit Goa, India.

“Kidnapping is a very sensitive case. People need to inform the police as soon as they receive calls from the kidnappers. If the issue is reported to the police immediately instead of giving in to ransom demands, then with timely intervention, we can determine the nature of the case,” Superintendent of Police Kedar Dhakal, spokesperson of the division, told the Post.