American woman in Delhi staged her abduction as she ran out of money

New Delhi [India], July 18 (ANI): The American woman whom Delhi Police recovered from Greater Noida within 24 hours of the US Embassy raising concerns over her safety, has told police that she had run out of cash and that is why she staged her abduction and assault, police said on Monday.
Deputy Commissioner of Police of New Delhi Amrutha Guguloth said they had received information from the US Embassy on May 15 that a woman who had arrived in India on May 3, had been abducted and is being physically assaulted.
“As soon as the US Embassy raised the matter, our teams wrote to Yahoo to get the IP address of the email that the woman had written to US Embassy alleging that she has been kidnapped and is being assaulted. WhatsApp was also contacted to get details of the phone number that the woman had used to call her mother and narrate her ordeal. Our teams also visited the address that the woman had mentioned in her immigration form but they found it was a five-star hotel and the woman wasn’t found their,” the DCP said.
She said, finally, using technical surveillance, police teams, based on call details and technical surveillance of the mobile number from which the woman had called her mother, traced it to Gurugram.
“Following a raid, it was found that the number is being used by a Nigerian man based in Gurugram he was questioned and he further revealed that the woman, Chole Renee McLaughlin is in Greater Noida. Our teams had reacted immediately and the woman was recovered from Greater Noida within 24 hours,” the officer said, adding that she had no injuries and she was happy too.
Police said the woman’s questioning revealed that she was in touch with the Nigerian man since she was in the US.
“Both got in touch via social media in 2021 and the woman had been wanting to come to Delhi to meet him for a long time but couldn’t come due to COVID restrictions. She further revealed that she had run out of cash and that using the hotspot from the Nigerian man’s phone she had called her mother via WhatsApp and lied to her that she had been abducted and that she was being assaulted by unidentified men. Similarly, she also wrote an email to the US Embassy claiming that she was abducted and created a story of her assault. She also told police that she and the Nigerian man had been planning to get married,” the officer said.
The DCP said that both the man and the woman have been sent to the FRRO and will soon be deported to their respective countries. (ANI)