Nanjangud: Honey-trapping, where women are being used to trap men who are robbed later, has spread its tentacles in and around Mysuru. Gangs that are experts in such crimes target men and many a time, complaints are not lodged due to the fear of social shame and bad publicity.

One such gang of five members that was actively involved in honey-trapping has been arrested by the Nanjangud Police. Two cars, cheque books, ATM cards, mobile phones and some documents have been seized by the Police. Police said that the gang has three more members including a woman and they have spread a dragnet to  arrest them.

According to Police sources, the preliminary tip-off regarding the gang was received by Nanjangud Circle Inspector Gopalakrishna. Following the tip-off, on Monday (Aug. 21) night, a Police team went to Mallanamoole Mutt on the outskirts of Nanjangud. Seeing the Police vehicle, a Hyundai i10 car (KA-09 ME-2402) sped away. But the Police team was successful in stopping another i20 car that did not sport a registration number.

After stopping the car, the Police questioned Madhusudhan, Chethan, Hemanth Kumar, Girish Kumar and Vinod, who were inside the vehicle. They were later taken to the Police Station and intense interrogation revealed that the gang was involved in honey-trapping. On searching the vehicle, the Police recovered lethal weapons, chili powder, cheque books, blank and signed cheque leaves, ATM cards and the keys of one more Maruti Ertiga car.

The modus operandi of the gang is that they made the woman, who is a part of the gang, stand in the Highway at night and stop vehicles (especially cars) and ask for a lift. The moment a vehicle stops, the woman opened the door and simultaneously the gang members would surround the vehicle. The occupants of the car are then robbed of cash and gold jewellery.

Further interrogation revealed that the other gang members, who had fled on seeing the Police vehicle, included the woman Mala alias Malashri, Raju and Jawara. This gang had honey-trapped a resident of Mysuru and asked him to come to Ramabainagar in Mysuru on Aug. 15. The gang had blackmailed the victim and had demanded Rs. 5 lakh from him and had taken away the keys of Maruti Ertiga car (KA-55 M-5376). Police said that the gang had victimised many gullible men and most of the time the victims have not lodged a complaint fearing bad publicity or fearing that their ‘true colours’ will be revealed to their family members. Even the person whose Ertiga car was snatched did not approach the Police fearing social shame.

Nanjangud Inspector Gopalakrishna, Sub-Inspector T.M. Puneeth and staff Krishna, Satish, Abdul Latheef, Devaraju, Prasanna Kumar, Srikanth, Siddaraju and Maheshan were part of the Police team.

Police searching for honey-trap victim

The Police are yet to trace the owner of the Maruti Ertiga car (KA-55 M-5376) that was taken away by the honey-trapping gang. They are now coordinating with the RTO to find out the owner of the car. The victim, a resident of Mysuru, was honey-trapped by the gang members and had asked him to come to Ramabainagar where they demanded Rs. 5 lakh. They later took away his car keys. Police said that the criminals had taken the victim to Gorur in Arakalagud of Hassan District in the Ertiga car and had taken him to a farmhouse owned by one Vinod.

The accused had assaulted the victim there with wickets and had demanded money.

The gang members then took away his chequebooks that bore account numbers 5072000100035307 (Karnataka Bank) and 85047346782 (Kaveri Grameena Bank) and ATM cards that belonged to Vijaya Bank and ICICI Bank.