2 MBA students, with losses in stocks, held for kidnapping teen

NEW DELHI: In a shocking fallout of the financial meltdown, two part-time MBA students who had apparently lost heavily on investments in stocks and real estate decided to make good their losses by joining in a plot to kidnap a 15-year-old south Delhi boy. The operation went awry when the mastermind, a cousin of the victim, panicked and dumped him at Okhla from where a passerby brought him home.

Arjun Jhamb Verma, a Class IX student of Gyan Bharati School in Saket, was kidnapped on his way to school on the morning of November 20. By Sunday night, the south Delhi police had arrested the two MBA students along with four others, including the kingpin who is an electronics and real estate dealer. The others include an inter-state extortionist and his accomplice as well as a hair-stylist

Both MBA students were pursuing their course through correspondence. Police said Piyush Jain (24) had enrolled in IMT Ghaziabad and also dabbled in shares. His close friend Rohit Chopra (24), who is doing an MBA from Ignou, is a property dealer in Gurgaon. He had apparently lost a lot of money due to the slump in prices of flats. Rohit had also invested in the stockmarket at Piyush���s insistence.

Rohit���s father is a general manager at a leading hotel in the capital while Piyush���s father is an established graphic designer with his own setup in Karol Bagh.

DRIVEN BY GREED

Piyush Jain (24) is an MBA student in IMT Ghaziabad. His friend Rohit Chopra (24), enrolled in Ignou���s MBA course, is a property dealer in Gurgaon.

The duo together lost around Rs 80 lakh in market meltdown. That was the ransom demand to Arjun���s mother

Kidnapping allegedly conducted by 21-year-old Bharat Jhamb, Arjun���s first cousin. He was reportedly unhappy with his share of ancestral property that got divided 3 years ago between his father and Arjun���s father