Police in Gurugram Bust Extortion Gang Using Dating Apps, Arrest Four

According to local authorities, four people have been detained for allegedly extorting money from others they met on an LGBTQ dating app.

They stated that the suspects, who were apprehended in Delhi on Friday night, had threatened the victims with publishing their personal footage online.

On September 4, the victim complained to the Sector 29 police station in this city, claiming that the accused had conned him out of Rs 95,000 and his phone.

According to the complaint, he went out with Keshav on September 3 after meeting him on the dating app Grindr. Keshav got out of the vehicle as they were driving away to heed to the call of nature. Three masked individuals entered the automobile and attacked the complainant while he was gone.

The man was stripped naked by the group, who also took his wallet and phone. When they saw a PCR vehicle coming, they ran away, according to the complaint.

Later, the complainant discovered that Rs 95,000 had been taken out of his account, and on September 4 he filed a police report about it, it was noted.

The four suspects were apprehended by police on Friday night after a FIR was filed based on the allegation. They were all residents of Prahladpur in Delhi and were identified as Keshav alias Kesu alias Kritvik (26), Mohammad Hussain alias Appu (22), Ravi Verma (23), and Pradeep alias Deepu (22).

They said that Hussain and the gang’s leader Keshav are both BBA graduates, but Ravi and Pradeep failed to finish from high school.

According to a senior police official, all of the accused were shown before a municipal court today, and police have detained them all for interrogation for the next two days.

ACP (Crime) Varun Dahiya described how the group operated by saying that the main suspect, Keshav, first befriended individuals on the dating app Grindr and invited them to meet him. By taking advantage of the situation, his helpers filmed a video while forcefully stripping the victim. Later, they threatened to spread the video like wildfire and demanded payment. They also used to make the victim provide the password and data of their bank account.

The suspects were recently freed from Tihar Jail in Delhi after being detained there for a similar offense, according to the ACP.