Inspired by TV sops: 3 UP kids fake kidnapping to skip class test, found enjoying ice-cream on CCTVs

LUCKNOW: Inspired by crime-based TV sops, three school kids, aged 13 to 15, in Barabanki city faked their kidnapping just to skip the class test they hadn't prepared for. However, their funny story had many a gap that left the police team bemused as they scanned local CCTVs and watched them play all day long in a nearby field and enjoy a few ice-cream breaks.
Barabanki superintendent of police Dinesh Kumar Singh said the police acted swiftly after they received a phone call from the parents of the children that they had been kidnapped.
"The first hour or so is crucial in such cases and we didn't want to take a chance," he said.
"The children, two sisters in class 7 and their neighbourhood boy, in class 6, had taken assistance from a passer-by to first call their uncle and inform him that they had been kidnapped and their bags were taken away, and he later informed the parents," said the officer. The parents then informed the Kotwali police station. The three children were asked by a woman police officerhow they were kidnapped, to which they said that a man from a van tried to bundle them inside the speeding car, but somehow, they managed to escape.
However, the kidnappers fled with their school bags, they added.
"Now, the school bag bit sounded really odd," the SP said. "Within a few minutes, we scanned the footage of all the nearby CCTV cameras. It turned out that the kids had quite a day."
"The three children were spotted idling around together and playing. They had a few ice-cream breaks and they kept their bags at the residence of the boy's relative who lived nearby and then waved at a passer-by and asked for his phone to make the call to their parents," said the officer. Asked about the reason, the kids in tears said they hadn't had time to prepare for a class test and wanted to skip it. Taking a lenient view of the incident, the police counselled the children and let them off.