BENGALURU: Jnana Bharati police have arrested a 24-year-old model-cum-TV-artiste and three of her associates on charges of ‘honey-trapping’ and extorting money from a city-based engineer. The gang had taped the engineer during physically intimate moments using a hidden camera in order to extort Rs 15 lakh.
One of the accused, Harshitha, a native of Hassan, lives in Yeshwantpur and is a model. Her associates — Sunil (40), Brijesh (25), and Lokesh (31) — are TV actors.
A senior police officer said the victim, who runs a CCTV camera business in the city, had filed a complaint on July 22 stating that Harshitha had befriended him and invited him to Sunil’s house on July 18. She forced him to come to the bedroom and seduced him. The entire act was captured on cameras fixed to the ceiling fan and the bathroom’s door.
Harshitha and her associates showed him the video later and blackmailed him.
They forced him to pay Rs 50,000 the same day and he withdrew the money from an ATM, the complaint said. After a couple of days, he borrowed Rs 1 lakh from his friend as the culprits had forced him to sign on five blank cheques and a paper bond.
The gang also took his car and electronic gadgets. As the gang repeatedly harassed him to give Rs 15 lakh, he approached the police. Based on this complaint, the accused were arrested from their houses. Police recovered the cash, car and gadgets from the accused.