Make as many ‘friends’ as you like on Facebook, but do think twice before meeting these ‘friends’ in real life. A 30-year-old businessman who had befriended a woman on Facebook found this out the hard way when he was confined, beaten up and robbed by a group of eight to ten men while he was on his way to meet the woman for lunch in East Delhi's Geeta Colony area.
Not just this, the goons also extorted Rs 4 lakh from the man on the pretext that they would upload his objectionable pictures on the social media if he did not pay up.
luckily for the man, Delhi Police on Monday arrested six people in connection with the case. However, police sources said that they have not arrested the woman on account of the fact that she is eight months pregnant.
Nupur Prasad, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) said, “The six arrested accused have been identified as Sahil Mehandi Ratta, Arun Garg, Shoib, Ashish Mehandi Ratta, Jai Mehta and litesh.”
Police said that the incident was reported at the Geeta Colony Police Station on May 3 wherein the businessman, a resident of Anand Vihar, alleged that in the first week of April, he met a woman on Facebook. They became close friends and even exchanged phone numbers.
As per the complainant, he and the girl decided to finally meet and agreed to go for a lunch date at Cross River Mall.
However, the woman changed the plan at the last minute and asked him to meet her at Chawla Chicken Corner. While waiting for the woman, the man was surrounded by a group of eight to ten goons who took him to a flat in laxmi Nagar in their car.
“Here the accused robbed the complainant of his gold chain, bracelet, ring and Driving license and demanded Rs 25 lakh as extortion money. Unable to pay, he negotiated for a smaller amount and called his father to arrange for the money. He paid them Rs 1.5 lakh in the flat.
“However, the accused did not budge and threatened him with dire consequences. To save himself, he took the accused to his uncle's residence, where he paid Rs 2.5 lakh to Arun.
“Two days later, i.e. on April 12, the accused called up the complainant demanding more money and threatened to leak his nude photos. Scared, the complainant approached the Geeta Colony Police Station and investigation was taken up," said the DCP.
Police tracked the number of the girl through technical surveillance with whom the complainant had held many WhatsApp conversations. Through surveillance, police nabbed the accused from the house of one Sahil.
Police recovered Rs 3 lakh in cash, one gold bracelet, one Driving license and one blank paper which the accused got signed forcefully from the complainant.
Police further said that efforts are on to nab one more accused, who is still at large. Further investigation is underway.