CHENNAI: A ‘honey trap’ laid on social media by a gang to make a quick buck turned into a death trap for two of its members while landing two others in the police dragnet on Sunday. The two victims, identified as Sathish (19) and Yuvaraj (20), were part of the gang that also comprised Aadhi (21), Naveen (19) and a 17-year-old boy. Naveen and the juvenile were caught trying to flee.
While the juvenile has been sent to a correctional facility at Kelly’s, Naveen was sent to jail by a magistrate court. The search is on for the other remaining member, Aadhi, a second-year engineering student.
The plan was hatched a few months ago when the juvenile created a fake Facebook ID with a woman’s name and profile and began chatting with 37-year-old Shanmugasundaram from Erode. After luring Shanmugasundaram on the virtual medium and ensuring he is smitten enough, the juvenile invited him to Madhavaram.
"The juvenile colluded with prime suspect Aadhi from Kolathur, and as per their plan, asked Shanmugasundaram to come to VS Mani Nagar in Madhavaram. After reaching the spot in wee hours of Saturday, Shanmugasundaram called his FB friend," said a police officer.
To Shanmugasundaram’s horror, a five-member gang arrived on the scene and snatched his debit card. While Aadhi and the boy kept Shanmugasundaram at bay on the roadside, the others went to a nearby ATM to withdraw money.
As luck would have it, a police patrol vehicle arrived nearby and on seeing them, Shanmugasundaram raised an alarm. In the melee, Aadhi took to his heels, but as irony would have it, ‘lady luck’ did not smile on the boy and he was nabbed.
Meanwhile, after witnessing the events unfold, the trio at the ATM also tried to flee. Sathish and Yuvaraj got on a bike and raced ahead, while Naveen was caught after a brief chase. But the speeding bikers, Satish and Yuvaraj, collided head-on with an oncoming TNSTC bus at Panaiyur near Cheyyur on the ECR and they died on the spot.
Traffic was disrupted on this stretch for about an hour after the bus, heading to Chennai from Velankanni, and bike collided. Police sent the bodies to the government hospital at Madurantakam for postmortem and the Cheyyur police has registered a case based on a complaint by Shanmugasundaram. A team has been formed to track Aadhi. Further investigations are underway.
Head-on collision
As luck would have it, a police patrol vehicle arrived nearby and on seeing them, Shanmugasundaram raised an alarm. In the melee, Aadhi took to his heels, but the boy was nabbed. Meanwhile, the trio at the ATM also tried to flee.
Sathish and Yuvaraj got on a bike and raced ahead, while Naveen was caught after a brief chase. But the speeding bikers, Sathish and Yuvaraj, collided head-on with an oncoming TNSTC bus at Panaiyur near Cheyyur and they died on the spot.