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Dipti Sarna's Abduction: 'Psychopath' Accused Inspired By Shah Rakh Khan's 'Darr', Say Police

Main Accused In Dipti Sarna's Abduction Was A Psychopath Inspired By The Stalker Film 'Darr', Say Police

The main accused in the abduction of a young Snapdeal employee last week is a "psychopath" who read Mein Kampf in jail, stalked his victim over 150 times in one year, was convinced that she would eventually agree to marry him and was inspired by actor Shah Rukh Khan's role of an unhinged stalker in the 1993 thriller 'Darr', the police said.

Dipti Sarna with her family after returning home.

Ghaziabad police SSP Dharmendra Singh told reporters today that main accused Devendra played mind games with 24-year-old Snapdeal executive Dipti Sarna he abducted last week from outside the Vaishali Metro station in Ghaziabad. He made up stories about his accomplices to portray himself as Dipti's saviour in the 30-hour ordeal. The police said he assured Dipti that he would protect her from her other abductors who had ill intentions about her.

A scared Dipti reportedly briefly put her trust in him even as Devendra, who had past criminal record, tried to outrun the police. He was well aware that at least 200 members of the Uttar Pradesh police were on the lookout for him.

Police arrested five men from Haryana, and are on the lookout for others involved in the abduction of Dipti.

The UP police revealed more chilling details about the extent of Devendra's obsession with Dipti.

Friends and relatives outside the residence of Snapdeal employee Dipti Sarna.

"It was a one-sided infatuation. He read Mein Kampf and Genghis Khan's biography and was deeply influenced by both. Over a year he stalked the woman at least 150 times. He even knew the whereabouts of her male friend. He wanted to see her everyday, find out what she was wearing, where she was going, without once reaching out to her. He found out where she used to meet her male colleague. He bought two autos for the express purpose of trying to kidnap Dipti. He even tried picking her up earlier but Dipti never got into a shared auto that did not have a female passenger," the SSP said.

After the kidnapping, Dipti was kept in a house at Panipat.

Psyche of culprit is such,he ws confident victim will agree to marry him after his heroic act (as per him)&he'll settle down in Nepal- SSP

— ANI (@ANI_news) February 15, 2016

Police said the main accused claimed his plan was inspired from ‘Darr’. He believed he could convince Dipti to marry him and move to Nepal and live a life away from crime. One of the Bollywood superstar's earlier films, Khan played a love-struck man with an unhealthy obsession over a classmate.

Dipti Sarna taken to MMG government hospital for medical examination on afternoon after her return.

In her statement to the police, Sarna said the autorickshaw she had boarded from Vaishali Metro station (on 10 February) to go home, stopped at Sahibabad Village. She switched to another auto rickshaw with four men in their mid-twenties and a woman.

Singh said the four men forced the other woman passenger to disembark near Hindon river Bridge, and after threatening Sarna with a knife proceeded towards Morti village in Raj Nagar extension. After sometime, they blindfolded her, bundled her into a car, and took her to an unknown destination three hours away, where she was kept in a room for the next two days.

Eventually on Friday, in a move that had baffled the police, Sarna's kidnappers dropped her at a railway station platform. On reaching Narela railway station, she contacted her father by borrowing a passenger’s mobile phone (her bag and mobile phone were taken away by her abductors).

After the intense search that flooded social media under the hashtag HelpFindDeepti, Sarna's sudden and safe return left the country, and even the police relieved but bewildered. What's more, the woman did not want to press charges against the men, according to an NDTV report. She alleged that the kidnappers gave her food and took care of her. She was was not assaulted in any way, and there were no ransom demands made.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.