The Police have arrested a Nigerian man, Okoroafor Chibuike Okoro also known as Rechi, in connection with the case of a 27-year-old American woman, Chloe Renee McLaughlin, who faked her own kidnap India.

According to Indian Express, on Sunday, a Delhi police official said Chloe arrived in India as a tourist and fabricated a case of being physically and emotionally molested by some unknown people to emotionally blackmail her parents back home in the United States of America.

Chloe, the victim-turned-accused is a resident of Washington DC but arrived in Delhi on May 3. The police source also revealed that she is a graduate and the daughter of a former Army officer.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, Amrutha Guguloth said the US Embassy had approached them, stating that the woman was attacked and beaten by an undisclosed individual known to her and is missing after reporting the incident to her family in the US.

Chloe claimed, in an email, that she was in an insecure environment where she had suffered physical and emotional abuse.

“On July 10, the victim spoke to her mother Sandra McLaughlin via a video call on WhatsApp. The mother tried to gather some more information about her but an unknown individual entered the room and she could not disclose much,” the Guguloth said.

Acting on the complaint, the Delhi Police recorded a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code at the Chanakyapuri police station and began probing the matter.

“In order to ascertain the present whereabouts of the girl, assistance was sought from Yahoo.com for providing the IP address used by her for sending email to the American Citizens Services on July 9. Further, the Bureau of Immigration was requested to provide her immigration form to find her whereabouts,” the DCP said.

Based on immigration form details, Chloe had submitted her local address as Khasra No 44 and 45 in Greater Noida. But, the police operatives discovered that the location was the address of the Radisson Blu hotel when they got there.

“Enquiries were made at the hotel and it was found that no such person had checked in at the hotel,” the official added.

The outcome of their discovery led to taking technical assistance from the Cyber Unit to find out the IP addresses used by her WhatsApp number. It showed on the analysis of the information that it was found that the victim used someone’s Wi-Fi connection.

Accordingly, the mobile number associated with the IP address and the alternate mobile number were obtained and details of the number were analysed.

Subsequently, the police team succeeded in apprehending a 31-year-old Nigerian man, Okoroafor Chibuike Okoro. Okoro is from Gurugram, after it was found that as per the IP address, his mobile was used by Chloe while making WhatsApp calls to her mother.

Further interrogation compelled Okoro to reveal the location of the missing woman, and eventually she was traced to a hotel in Greater Noida. After rescue and examination of the victim, it was revealed that she had staged the incident to emotionally blackmail her parents. It was also found that her visa had expired on June 6.

The police source also said their investigation showed that Okoro and Chloe had befriended each other on Facebook and she has been staying with him in India since her arrival.

“On further investigation, it was found that the passport of Rechi had also expired,” the DCP said, adding that legal action with respect to overstaying in India without a valid passport and valid visa is being taken against them.

Guguloth further revealed that both of them a passion for singing, and possibly which was the main reason for their friendship. (Vanguard)

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