5-star exec fakes abduction to escape arranged marriage

Desperate to avoid her engagement to a man her parents had chosen for her, a 24-year-old woman allegedly faked her own abduction.

On Wednesday, Karishma Rai (name changed), wife of a Bandra-based hotelier, registered a complaint with the police that her daughter had been abducted. She said she had received an SMS from her daughter Kashmira (name changed). The message said: ‘’I have been kidnapped from Borivli. The kidnappers have assaulted me and threatened me. Please do not inform the police or they will kill me.”

Kashmira works in a five-star hotel in the western suburbs as a marketing executive.
During investigation, officials from the Bandra unit of the crime branch learnt that Kashmira had recently returned from the United Kingdom after acquiring an MBA. They also learnt that she was in a relationship with a man she had met there.

‘’Kashmira was seen with her boyfriend in her locality on the day she went missing,” said a senior officer from the crime branch, adding that the man is a native of Udaipur in Rajasthan.

A team left for Rajasthan on Wednesday evening. “Somehow Kashmira found out that the police team was on its way to Udaipur and fled. She went home on Thursday and confessed to her mother that she was not abducted,” the officer said.

Kashmira’s mother then took her to the Bandra police station. But during questioning, Kashmira said her boyfriend had asked her for Rs5,000 and she went to Udaipur only to find out why he needed the money.

“Her reply proved that she had faked her kidnapping,” said Rakesh Maria, joint commissioner of police, crime.

The crime branch officer said that the police would decide what action to take against her after investigation.