Hardoi (UP), Feb 15 (IANS): The Hardoi police have arrested a teacher at a government primary school for faking his own kidnapping and making a ransom call to his mother for Rs 33 lakh.

Police said that the teacher, Harshit Sharma, 32, took the step after being hounded by creditors from whom he had taken a loan of Rs 33 lakh.

After tracing the ransom call, police arrested Sharma on Wednesday and are looking for his friend who helped him in executing the crime.

Superintendent of police, Hardoi, KC Goswami said that police swung into action soon after Sharma’s mother got a call late on Tuesday night that her son had been kidnapped.

The caller demanded Rs 33 lakh ransom.

“We traced the call and found the location to be just 2 km away. Police teams found a locked poultry farm and the location of Sharma’s mobile phone was found at the same place. When the team raided the poultry farm, Sharma was found there in an inebriated state on Wednesday,” the officer said.

He said that when Sharma was interrogated, he spilled the beans and said that he made the ransom call to his mother to settle the loan.

According to police, Sharma belongs to a well-off family. After his father’s death, his mother got the entire property. His sister and wife are also teachers in government schools.

Cops said that Sharma was addicted to liquor for which he had been taking loans from people. As the loan amount mounted and his creditors started demanding their money, one of his friends advised him to stage his own kidnapping and take money from his mother.