Mysuru: Hotels, sweet shops, chat corners and bakeries in city have a unique problem – miscreants masquerading as customers blackmailing them to cough up money as the food at their outlets contain cooked cockroaches, hair strands and even dead lizards.

The Mysuru Hotel Owners’ Association has released an advisory to hotels and restaurants, bakeries and sweet shops to install CCTV cameras to catch such miscreants who bring cockroaches, lizards and hair, and intentionally put them in the food and demand money.

In a press release, C. Narayanagowda, President of the Association has stated that since the last two months, there have been several instances where miscreants came to hotels and sweet shops and order food. “These miscreants eat the food partially and put dead cockroaches, lizards and hair to the food. Later, they call the hotel managers and demand money threatening to take photos and videos of cockroaches and lizards and defame the hotel and complain to health officers,” he said.

“There is an organised gang in Mysuru that operates every day and they extort anywhere between Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 25,000 from hapless hotel owners. Hotels owners are being blackmailed that if the money is not paid, they threaten to upload videos and photos on social media and lodge complaints with the Police and Mysuru City Corporation health wing. Hotel owners are being victimised by miscreants as the owners fear that hotels will be  closed for lack of hygiene,” Narayanagowda stated in the press release.

Advising hotels, bakeries and chat shops to install CCTV cameras, he said that they should not dither from lodging Police complaints in case they are blackmailed.

Speaking to Star of Mysore, Narayanagowda said that since the last two months, there were more than five incidents where hotel owners were victimised by blackmailers. “Hoteliers have ended up paying anywhere between Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 25,000, fearing the blackmailers. We noticed                                                                             that the criminals target only such hotels and eateries that do not have CCTV cameras. The Association appeals to all eating outlets to install CCTV cameras and also approach the Police in case they are blackmailed,” he said.

News 11