NEW DELHI

The daughter of a former US Army officer was detained for reportedly fabricating her own kidnapping as part of a complex scheme to demand money from her parents, Indian police said on Sunday. Chloe McLaughlin, 27, was taken into custody by the New Delhi District police on Sunday after they discovered that she shared a home with a man she met online.

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On July 10, Mclaughlin made a video call over WhatsApp to her parents. Her mother informed the US embassy that the phone dropped when a guy entered the room, and the embassy then called local authorities after determining the woman was being detained against her will.

In an effort to locate her, embassy representatives utilised information from an email she had previously sent about renewing her passport, which directed them to the Radisson Blu Hotel. Amrutha Guguloth, the deputy commissioner of police in New Delhi, said that when police raided the hotel, they found out that the woman had never been there; instead, she had merely accessed the free WiFi.

Police followed the young woman's IP address from the video after consulting with the American consulate. They discovered she was residing with Okoroafor Chibuike Okoro, a 31-year-old Nigerian national whom she had met online and connected with in early May over a shared love of music.

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McLaughlin reportedly admitted to staging the kidnapping after running out of money when police tried to arrest Okoro. Both are currently accused of lingering too long in India without a current passport and visa. According to police, no more charges will be brought in India. The police alleged that once she was saved, it was discovered that she had faked the event in order to extort her parents.

The woman's passport had expired on June 6, and her boyfriend's passport too had run out of validity, police said. She had come to India to stay with Okoro, whom she had befriended on Facebook before coming here. Both of them lived together here and were passionate about singing. That might be the reason they became friends, the police officer said.Police said legal action is being taken against them for overstaying in India without a valid passport and visa. 

(With inputs from agencies)

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