Honey trap: 2 women, 4 cabbies held in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Six members of a gang, including two women, who allegedly honey trapped a realtor and robbed him of Rs 10 lakh cash and gold jewellery, have been arrested by the Byatarayanapura police.

The accused have been identified as N. Manjunath alias Manja, 32, Mahadeva, 27, both residents of Challaghatta near Kengeri, Mahesh, 24, of Nayandahalli, Swamy, 27, of Nithyanandanagar, Jayanti, 28, of Bank Colony, and Rukmini alias Lakshmi, 37, of Chunchaghatta Circle near Konanakunte Cross. All the four arrested men are cabbies.

The alleged incident took place on March 17, but the realtor, a resident of Kasturba Nagar off Mysuru Road, filed the complaint only on Saturday. Within a few hours of the complaint being filed, the police swung into action and caught all the accused.

“The prime accused in the case, Manjunath, is the mastermind and planned the entire crime. He was in search of wealthy men and he had seen the victim realtor several times with an MLA. Learning that he was wealthy, Manjunath collected his mobile phone number a month ago, and asked accused Jayanti to give the realtor a missed call. He told her to strike a conversation when the realtor called back and to get close to him. Manjunath did call Jayanti back and they struck up a conversation. They decided to meet on March 17, and Jayanti asked him to come near Tunga Bar and Restaurant in Avalahalli,” the police said.

“When the realtor went there, Jayanti was with another accused Rukmini. Jayanti, as per plan, took him to a farmhouse near Challaghatta that is owned by Manjunath’s friend. As the realtor and the two women were inside the room, the four accused men barged in and threatened the realtor that they would inform his family members about his peccadilloes. They demanded Rs 10 lakh and as he did not have the money, they stripped him and locked him up in the room. The realtor contacted his friends and arranged Rs 10 lakh cash. Only after receiving the cash, and robbing him of his gold chain and three rings, the accused let him out of the farmhouse,” the police said.

The victim was not willing to file a complaint, but his friends advised him to go to the police. The police have recovered Rs 1.45 lakh cash, the robbed gold jewellery and a car used in the offence. The accused are being interrogated about their involvement in similar cases.