Nigeria-based Indian jailed for staging own kidnap

Mishal Vishwanath, an Indian national working in Nigeria, has been sentenced to one year imprisonment for staging his own kidnapping.

A senior magistrates’ court in Wuse, Abuja, found him guilty alongside Pascal Nosori, his Nigerian accomplice, of joint act and giving false information with the intent to mislead a public servant.

After they pleaded guilty to the charges, Aliyu Shaffa, the magistrate, sentenced them to one year imprisonment each.

Shaffa, however, gave the convicts an option to pay a fine of N30, 000 each.

Earlier, Simon Lough, the prosecutor, told the court that on February 10, one Amol Sohont of Bassan Plaza, central area, lodged a complaint at the office of the commissioner of police in Abuja.

Lough told the court that the convicts conspired and falsely informed the police that one of them, Vishwanath, was kidnapped.

He said that the convicts demanded N10 million ransom and the police negotiated it down to N5 million.

He said that the money was deposited into a Sterling Bank account, while the convicts were apprehended when they attempted to withdraw the money from the bank.