BENGALURU: A 36-year-old man was robbed by a gang of three, who had trapped him through an online dating app. The victim is a resident of Billapura in Sarjapura, and has a wife and son. The family had moved from Andhra Pradesh to the city nine months ago, after the victim secured a job in a hotel.
The victim was lured by the accused, who had sent him a message through an online dating app.
Unsuspecting, the victim just followed instructions given by the accused and landed at a location near Chandapura on Hosur Main Road. From there, one of the accused took him to a eucalyptus grove in Sarjapura, where the other two accused met them.
The three attacked him and made him take off his clothes. They then filmed with him with his own phone and shared the clip amongst themselves, in a bid to blackmail the victim. The accused initially robbed him of Rs 15,000 in cash, before getting his brother to transfer money through UPI. Later, the accused let him free and made him board a BMTC bus to return home.
The incident occurred on August 10, but the victim had not approached police out of stigma. The accused were arrested on Tuesday and have been remanded to judicial custody. “The accused are aged between 20-21 years. After the victim registered on the app, a message was sent to the accused, as they are subscribers of the app. It appears the accused have subscribed to the app to target people,” said an officer.