A 48-year-old Varanasi-based garment merchant, who had incurred major losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, staged his own kidnapping and went into hiding in Nagpur.

The Bhoiwada police said that Ambaresh Asthana called his brother-in-law over the phone recently and told him that he has been kidnapped by one of his clients, stated a report in The Indian Express. He was, however, found in Nagpur a week later. Police said that Asthana keeps visiting Mumbai to meet his clients. Similarly, he had come to Mumbai on December 10, last year, and returned to Varanasi on December 24.