LUCKNOW: A 37-year-old Lucknow man, collected around Rs 5 crore from several people on the promise of securing them government jobs, staged his own kidnapping to evade mounting pressure from those demanding their money back, police said.The accused, Satyaratna Dixit, a resident of Madiaon, was traced to a hotel in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and arrested by a joint team of Madiaon police and the North Zone surveillance unit.According to police, Dixit took money from several aspirants by promising appointments in government departments and issuing forged appointment letters.When he failed to arrange the jobs or return the money, he allegedly gave a false kidnapping alert, claiming that two Scorpio SUVs were chasing him.The case came to light after his wife, Shipra Yadav, lodged a complaint on October 6, stating that her husband had left home in his Maruti Ciaz car (UP32MQ6024).She was subsequently approached by Prakhar Pandey, who reportedly told her that Dixit had called from Hazratganj and said two Scorpio vehicles were following him.A later call from another mobile number claimed that he had been kidnapped.Madiaon SHO Shivanand Mishra said the police tracked a suspicious mobile number with the help of the North Zone surveillance team.Its location was traced to Ahmedabad, prompting a joint team to travel to Gujarat.Investigators found that Dixit was staying at Hotel Shrimad, located on the fourth floor of Vitthal Mall.After checking the hotel records, the police team reached his room in the presence of hotel staff and recovered him safely. He was questioned and subsequently brought to Lucknow.“During questioning, Dixit told us that he had left Lucknow on October 5 and reached Ahmedabad on October 7. He had taken money from several people on the promise of arranging jobs but was unable to secure the appointments or return the money,” Mishra said.Police said Dixit had promised jobs in the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), the public works department (PWD) and the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences.According to investigators, he had called Prakhar Pandey to collect a purported appointment letter for the LDA.He had also allegedly arranged appointment letters for Amrita Rai for the medical institute, Praveen Kumar Rai for the LDA and a person identified as Aditya for the PWD.As people began contacting him to demand refunds, Dixit allegedly feared that the alleged fraud would be exposed. Police said he then called Dial 112 and falsely claimed that two Scorpio vehicles were following him.He allegedly switched off his mobile phone, parked his car near Purnia crossing in Lucknow and travelled to Charbagh railway station.He then boarded the Sabarmati Express to Ahmedabad, where he stayed at the hotel, police said.
