GUJRAT: Police claimed on Thursday to have recovered a 15-year-old grade-IX student who was found involved in staging his own kidnapping for a Rs0.5 million ransom in a bid to avoid going to academy for studies.

Gujrat DPO Umar Salamat told Dawn that one Asif Beig of Ali Chak had informed the Lalamusa Saddar police on Wednesday that his son Zainul Abedin had gone to attend tuition but did not return home. During a search, the boy’s school bag was found.

The DPO said a small paper of writing was also found from the bag in which a message was delivered to the parents to pay a ransom of Rs0.5m for the safe recovery of their son after which the police had lodged a case of kidnapping against unidentified suspects.

He said the missing boy was later found to the police in Gulliana in the evening when he was roaming in the deserted market after lockdown time [6pm] as his picture was circulated to police stations.

Later on, the boy told the police that he had staged the drama of his kidnapping for ransom for the sake of avoiding tuition.

Police have handed over the boy to his parents.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2021