ROURKELA: Brahmani Tarang police on Saturday arrested eight members of a gang for looting people after luring them through a dating and meet-up app.
Panposh SDPO Upasana Padhi informed the modus operandi of the racket was to search for prospective victims through the dating and meet up app called Grindr. She said the gang through the app would lure the victims for a meeting at isolated places where the gang members would threaten them with weapons and rob them of their personal belongings. The accused also forcefully took the victims’ online banking details to transfer money.
Padhi said the accused admitted to have committed over 10 such crimes in the recent past of which only two cases were reported at the RN Pali police station and one at the Brahmani Tarang police station over the last three days.
Investigation revealed in the case registered at Brahmani Tarang police station case, the gang had looted a young victim of Rs 20,000, while in the ones at RN Pali police station, the victims were looted of Rs 25,000 and Rs 8,000. A firearm, seven mobile phones and two 2-wheelers were seized from the accused, identified as Arjun Choudhary (24), Subrat Behera (21), Sonu Thakur (20), Manoj Kumar Behera (22), Anadi Charan Behera (45), Rajesh Rout (23) and Abhisek Sharma (25) and Jayadev Pradhan (24). All the accused belong to places within RN Pali, Brahmani Tarang and Lathikata police limits.
In an advisory, Rourkela police urged residents, especially youngsters and minors, to remain cautious and avoid sharing personal information or financial details while interacting with anyone on social media including Instagram, Facebook or other apps like Tinder, Bumble, Happn, Grindr etc.