NEW DELHI: A 27-year-old American woman was rescued by the Delhi Police from a hotel in Greater Noida, where she was staying after staging her kidnapping for the past few days. Her visa expired but she wanted to stay longer, that’s why she made a call to the Embassy and her parents about being kidnapped, said police on Sunday.
Chanakyapuri Police station received a complaint on Friday from the US Embassy following which a case of abduction was registered.
Police said a female tourist from the US arrived in Delhi on a tourist visa on May 3. But after staying for over a month, last week she informed her family that she is in an unsafe environment and was being assaulted and beaten by an unidentified individual. She did not even disclose her location. Subsequently, a complaint was forwarded by the US Embassy to New Delhi District Police.
DCP (New Delhi) Amrutha Guguloth said this case was reported after more than two and half months of the arrival of the victim in India.
“So, there was no scope of making efforts through CCTV footage. It was also not sure as to which part of India, the victim is. On the basis of technical surveillance and professional investigation the victim has recovered within 24 hours of reporting the incident to the police,” Delhi Police said in a press statement.
The embassy informed the police that the victim, identified as Chloe Renee McLaughlin spoke to her mother Sandra McLaughlin via a video call on WhatsApp on July 10.
The mother of the victim tried to gather some more information about her but an unknown individual entered the room and she could not disclose much.
Police with the help of technical assistance found the IP addresses used by her WhatsApp number. On analysis, it was found that the victim used Wi-Fi data of someone. Accordingly, the mobile number associated with the IP Address was obtained and details of this number were analyzed.
As a result, the police team succeeded in apprehending one Okoroafor Chibuike Okoro alias Rechi, 31, a native of Nigeria, from Gurugram. Police said the woman had used the IP Address of Okoro’s mobile phone for making a WhatsApp call to her mother.
On sustained interrogation, he revealed the location of the girl and ultimately the girl was traced from Imperia Residency Hotel in Greater Noida.
“After the rescue and examination of the victim, it is revealed that she had staged the incident to emotionally blackmail her parents. It was also found that her Visa had expired on June 6 after which she was staying with Okoro,” said Guguloth.
She had befriended Okoro through Facebook and after her arrival in India, she was staying with him. On further investigation, it was found that Okoro’s passport had also expired. Legal action with respect to overstaying in India without a valid passport and valid visa is being taken against them.
The woman was a graduate of a USA university. She resides in Washington DC and her father is an ex-army officer. She has a passion for singing.
Okoroafor Chibuike Okoro alias Rechi came to India in the year 2017 to pursue a course in Network Administrator. He also has a passion for singing. After completion of the course, he started stage performance. Both of them have a passion for singing. Probably this is the main reason for their friendship, said the police in its statement.