Eight people were arrested by Agra police in connection with three separate cases in which users of friendship and dating apps, popular among members of the LGBTQ community, were allegedly assaulted, extorted and blackmailed. Cases were registered at Tajganj and Ekta police stations, officials said on Saturday.
Additional deputy commissioner of police (crime) Himanshu Gaurav said a complaint was lodged at Tajganj police station on May 21 by a man who alleged that he had come in contact with an unidentified person through a dating app on May 19.
“The accused invited the victim to meet at a hotel room in Agra where four men were already present. They held him hostage, assaulted him and threatened to kill him before forcing him to transfer ₹14,000 online through a QR code,” the ADCP said.
He added that the same group allegedly targeted another man on May 20 using a similar modus operandi and extorted ₹4,900 from him.
A case under sections 308(5) (extortion), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 127(2) (wrongful confinement), and 351(3) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was registered at the Tajganj police station teams were constituted to trace and arrest the accused.
Police arrested four accused — Someshwar, Tarun and Saqib, all residents of Tajganj, and Shakeel, a resident of Jind in Haryana. Shakeel and Someshwar have previous criminal records involving robbery and similar extortion cases linked to dating apps, the ADCP said.
In another case registered at Ekta police station, four more people were arrested for allegedly targeting a man through a dating app.
The complainant told investigators that he befriended a person through the app and was called to the 100 Feet Road area on May 20. He was allegedly taken in a car to a secluded location near Tora Chowki where four men assaulted him, snatched his mobile phone and recorded an obscene video, the ADCP said.
“The victim was later taken to Ring Road and threatened that the video would be made viral unless he transferred ₹2 lakh. He transferred ₹1 lakh online before being dropped near a dairy in Agra,” Gaurav said.
The accused again demanded ₹50,000 from the victim the next day, after which he approached police, Gaurav added.
‘’A case under sections 61(2) (criminal conspiracy), 309(6) (voluntarily causing hurt for robbery), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 127(2) (wrongful confinement), 351(3) (criminal intimidation) and 352 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) of the BNS was registered at Ekta police station and the four accused were arrested on Saturday,” the ADCP said.
Those arrested were identified as Suraj Thakur, Saurabh Yadav, Naman Yadav and Abhishek Yadav, all from villages under Ekta region in Agra. Police said Saurabh, Abhishek and Naman have criminal backgrounds.
