Man fakes kidnap after tiff with wife

KOZHIKODE: When Lijeesh Jose, a resort manager in Meppadi in Wayanad, rang up his colleague at 2.30am on Thursday saying that he has been abducted by a group of armed men, police suspected the role of Maoists and swung into action. A police team, including members of the special unit Thuderbolts, combed the area, where Jose was staying and conducted a massive search operation.
But now, police officials admit it was a case of fake kidnapping, orchestrated by Jose because he was facing financial problems and was looking to leave the town for good following a tiff with his wife.
Jose was staying alone at the resort, Garden of Eden, the day he was “abducted“.Maoists had earlier threatened estate managers over grabbing the land of the tribals and had launched an attack on a resort nearby . So the cops had enough reasons to suspect the Naxalites' hand in the “abduction“. “Tribals told us they heard barking of dogs and saw afew men walking towards the forest. So, we thought it was a real case of kidnapping,"said MK Pushkaran, district police chief, Wayanad. But an examination of call records proved that Jose made his last call from Kalpetta, a few kilometres away from Meppadi.
Further probe revealed Jose had a quarrel with his wife on the previous day . Jose had told his wife that she will not see him again and asked her to take care of their children. The police say he was facing financial problems, which could have forced him to leave Wayanad.