A 36-year-old accountant from Surat has been arrested for allegedly staging his own kidnapping and demanding a ransom of ₹50 lakh from his family in an attempt to recover heavy losses incurred through stock market options trading.
The accused, identified as Jignesh Talaviya, a resident of Mota Varachha, had gone missing on June 12, prompting his wife Meenakshiben Talaviya to file a missing person complaint with the Utran Police Station.
Soon after, the family received threatening messages claiming that Jignesh had been kidnapped. The messages demanded ₹50 lakh and warned the family against approaching the police or freezing bank accounts.
Fake hostage videos sent to family
To make the kidnapping appear genuine, videos showing Jignesh tied up and appearing to be held captive were sent to his family, causing panic and concern.
Treating the matter as a serious kidnapping case, Surat Police launched an extensive investigation involving technical surveillance, CCTV analysis and field inquiries. Police teams tracked multiple leads across Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh as the suspect’s location continued to change.
At one stage, investigators traced his movements to Madhya Pradesh, while another video was later found to have been recorded in Godhra.
Police uncover elaborate deception
On June 15, police located Jignesh at a hotel in Godhra’s Panchmahal district. During questioning, he allegedly confessed that the kidnapping story was entirely fabricated.
Investigators said he had written the ransom messages himself and recorded the hostage videos to convince his family that he had been abducted. He reportedly demonstrated to officers how he tied himself up and created the videos.
According to police, Jignesh suffered losses of approximately ₹50 lakh to ₹60 lakh through call and put options trading in the stock market and allegedly planned the fake kidnapping to obtain money from his family.
Case registered against accused
Police have booked him under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including charges related to providing false information, fabricating evidence and wasting government resources.
Officials said significant police manpower and resources were deployed to investigate the case before the truth emerged. Further investigation is underway.