A man in debt staged a robbery with the help of his cousin and lodged an FIR to get rid of his creditors but his trick backfired.
Sikander Alam, a man in his forties and a resident of Pokhara village under Barsoi police station of Katihar (310km northeast of Patna), concocted a false story of loot and lodged an FIR aided by his cousin, Tarique Anwar. Alam, owner of a brick kiln near his village, had been reeling from a debt of over Rs 50 lakh.
Alam owed the amount to a fellow businessman in coal business. He also had to pay about Rs 12 lakh to one of his creditors in Bengal.
He pretended to be looted near Tichan railway gate in the Barsoi area of the district on June 13. He filled up a bag with clothes and visited different places in Barsoi posing it was full of cash. Later, his cousin Tarique fastened his hands to the steering wheel of his sports utility vehicle.
The duo went to the police after this and lodged an FIR the same day, claiming that two people had asked for a lift at the railway gate but had later tied them up at gunpoint, before fleeing with the bag containing Rs 11.6 lakh.
Superintendent of police Kshatraneel Singh told The Telegraph: "Alam and his cousin had hatched the conspiracy and lodged a false FIR. We started probing the matter soon after the case was lodged but came to know that the victim had staged the entire incident because he was in a debt of over Rs 50 lakh."
We had detained both the accused on Tuesday evening. They confessed after subsequent questioning. Alam's business had almost died because of the early rain and he could not pay back his creditors at such a short notice. He wanted a short respite from them and thus planned the fake incident," he added.
The police recovered the cellphone, which Alam used in planning the incident, from his unused water filter. They also found the bag of clothes, which Alam had claimed to be full of money. Both Alam and Tarique were released on Tuesday evening but the police might take action against them for fabrication of information and misleading the police.
Alam's family, meanwhile is keeping an eye on him so that he does not take any drastic action in depression.
