Snapdeal employee case: Accused inspired by SRK's film 'Darr'

The Ghaziabad police on Monday arrested five people in connection with the abduction of Snapdeal employee Dipti Sarna who was kidnapped on her way home from Vaishali metro station. The prime accused, Devender, confessed to stalking Dipti since he first saw her a year ago. In their possession, the police found two autorickshaws, a Swift, two revolvers, two country guns, ammunition, and Dipti's backpack, the police said.

"The accused was highly inspired by Bollywood movie Darr, in which Shahrukh Khan's character gets obsessed with a woman, he read Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' during the time he spent in jail and was inspired by the relationship between Hitler and Eva Braun, and he also took inspiration from the life and struggle of Genghis Khan," said the police.

Ghaziabad SSP Dharmender Singh said that Devender (alias Rajiv and Lilu) had plotted the crime for over a year after he saw Dipti with a friend at the Rajiv Chowk metro station and fell in love with her. He hatched the plan to abduct her, and roped in some associates, namely Pradip, Farzi, Mohit and Khoda, in the plan. Devender told them that Dipti was a hawala operator and has about Rs 3-4 crore hawala money at home, and that if they abduct her, they can ask for a hefty ransom.

In a bid to get to talk to her, Devender also bought two auto rickshaws, and would wait for her at the metro station. He even knew what brand of chips she loves, the police said. On the fateful day, Kavi Nagar resident Dipti, 24, was returning home from work and as usual, took a shared auto from the metro station. When the auto had gone some distance, Devender and his associates threw nails on the path of the auto, and when the auto broke down, Devender's associates appeared there and Dipti and her co-passenger, a woman, decided to get into his auto. In order to get rid of the co-passenger, the men then threatened the woman with a knife and chased her.

They then threw her mobile phone and backpack behind a construction site. Dipti's phone remains untraceable till now. They blindfolded Dipti, put a gun to her head, and took her to an undisclosed location.

Devender, who was following them in a car, made Sarna sit in his car and drove towards his native village of Baghpat, and then borrowed a cousin's car when he ran out of gas. He kept Dipti with him and convinced her that he had no intention and that it was his co-accused who wanted to harm her. He also told her that her male friend, the one with whom Devender first saw her at the metro station, was, too, harboured ulterior motives and wanted to kill Sarna's relatives, said the police.

He then took her to the railway station and lent her Rs 100 to travel back home. Dipti took a passenger's phone to call her father.