CALCUTTA, 10 June 2005 — A London-based IBM Global executive admitted to the police yesterday that he had faked his own kidnapping to avoid an arranged marriage.
Senior officials said that non-resident Indian Rajeev Bhattacharya had narrowly escaped being charged for giving false information to the police.
“We don’t want to ruin his career in London. That’s why we spared him”, said Prasun Mukherjee, Calcutta police commissioner. “But the next time someone does something like this, we are going to press charges.” Bhattacharya was due to get married on June 3, but vanished on June 1 from outside a HSBC bank in north Calcutta where he had apparently gone to draw money.
Following his father’s appeal to free his son from the abductors, the Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya, ordered a manhunt.
Two days later, Bhattacharya rang up his family from Mughalsarai saying he was safe and sound. A Calcutta police team brought him back. On his return, he claimed that he sustained injuries to his genital in the incident.
Meanwhile, Bhattacharya’s marriage to Suparna Kumari was called off by the bride’s family. The police not satisfied with the NRI executive’s account, decided to continue their probe. The media meanwhile had a field day, painting Bhattacharya’s disappearance as yet another daylight abduction that was resolved by the family and government bowing to the kidnappers’ demands.
Javed Shamim, deputy commissioner of Calcutta’s eastern suburban division, repeatedly asked Bhattacharya to recount the abduction in order to get to the root of the issue.
The continued questioning tripped up the NRI, who blurted out that he faked the kidnapping to get out of the marriage arranged by his parents and family. He added that he had no help.
A terse statement was issued that Bhattacharya had not been kidnapped.
“It’s a criminal waste of money and resources for a force that is already stretched to the limits,” said Ranvir Kumar, deputy commissioner of police, on the number of man hours and the money spent to find the NRI. According to Shamim, police had spent 45,000 rupees on petrol, train tickets and telephone calls. “And one must also take into account the sleepless nights he gave us and his family.”
