Man Jailed Over False Kidnap Claim

A man who claimed to have been kidnapped and demanded a ransom from his partner to secure his release has been jailed.

Police were contacted by the distressed partner of Paresh Savji Devraj, who reported that he had been kidnapped and that he would be beaten and killed if she didn't pay £1,000.

Police said they quickly established the threats and kidnap were not genuine and charged 35-year-old Devraj for wasting police time.

Devraj had got an associate to call his partner on Monday 28 September to say he had been taken and demand cash from her. She later received another call to say Devraj had been beaten and was bleeding and to hurry up with the cash.

Believing the calls to be genuine, his partner contacted police who, following enquiries, forced entry to an address in Whitehall Road, Handsworth. There they found and arrested a 57-year-old woman who subsequently admitted to helping and was given a formal police caution.

Officers then went to flats in Oxhill Road, Handsworth, where they found Devraj on a stairwell, who showed no signs of injury and had been taking drugs.

Devraj, unemployed and of no fixed address, was arrested and charged with causing wasteful employment of police.

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Wallis from Force CID said: "It is reasonable to assume if you tell a lie about a serious crime, a person is going to call the police, who will respond in a manner commensurate to that seriousness.

"In this case the lie was that Devraj had been kidnapped and unless his partner paid a sum of money straight away he would be killed. He further consolidated that lie with falsehoods of being injured, screams of 'I'm bleeding', leading to concerns that this was a crime of great magnitude, a life literally hanging by a thread. Police worked extremely hard to try and find Devraj. When they did he was relaxing having been taking crack cocaine throughout the day

"A further two people were initially arrested with Devraj whilst the police sought to fathom out who was involved in what.

"Not only had he deceived his partner to try and get a sum of money off her but he had foreseeably placed the police in a position of a major incident to find him before he was killed.

"We welcome the fact the Courts have recognised the seriousness of his actions and given him a time in jail immediately to reflect upon his actions, whilst officers were searching for him they were diverted from other investigations."

(MH/CD)