Woman arrested; Incident took place six months ago; Complaint lodged on Aug. 19

Mandya: Mandya West Police have arrested a woman who is accused of honey trapping a businessman by videographing the businessman with an unidentified woman, blackmailing him and later extorting Rs. 50 lakh from the businessman.

The victim (businessman) is Jagannath S. Shetty, proprietor of Srinidhi Golds on V.V. Road in Mandya. The incident had taken place six months ago and a complaint was lodged on Aug. 19. The Police have arrested a woman in just two days of the businessman lodging the complaint.

Details: Jagannath, who had reserved a bus ticket to go to Mangaluru from Mysuru on Feb. 26 night, had come to Mandya KSRTC Bus Stand on Feb. 26 at 8 pm to catch a bus to Mysuru and was waiting for the bus, when some unidentified persons came in a car and asked him whether he was from Srinidhi Golds.

When Jagannath told them that he was indeed from Srinidhi Golds and was waiting for a bus to go to Mysuru, the unidentified persons told him that they too were going to Mysuru and would drop him there. Jagannath then boarded the car and saw four persons in the vehicle. While the woman introduced herself as Salma Banu, another person introduced himself as Jayanth and they began to talk till they reached Mysuru. On reaching Mysuru, the strangers told Jagannath that their friends had brought a gold biscuit and were staying at a lodge. They then asked Jagannath to come to the lodge and check the gold biscuit for its originality.

Obliging them, Jagannath entered the room in the lodge where a girl aged between 22 and 25 years was present and those who had come with Jagannath went out of the room suddenly. After a few minutes, Salma, Jayanth and four other persons entered the room and one of them abused Jagannath of bringing his sister to the lodge, assaulted him (Jagannath) and made him stand next to the girl and videographed them.

Using the video, Salma and other blackmailed Jagannath and demanded Rs. 4 crore. They also threatened Jagannath with life if he fails to give the money. The negotiations went on till about 2 am and the amount was finalised for Rs. 50 lakh. As the miscreants had locked Jagannath in the room till the money reached them, Jagannath through his friend LIC Development Officer Dr. S. Srinivas Shetty got Rs. 25 lakh from Rajashri Jewellers and handed over the cash to the blackmailers near Mysuru Zoo. Later, the person who had kept Jagannath as a hostage fetched Rs. 23 lakh from Surya Jewellers on Ashoka Road and Rs. 2 lakh from Kalpatharu Silver House on Feb. 27 morning and later released Jagannath.

On Aug. 19 at 11 am, Jagannath lodged a complaint at Mandya West Police Station and had told the Police that the blackmailers had threatened to murder him hence he had not lodged a complaint besides stating that as the blackmailers were demanding more money, he was lodging a complaint now.

Mandya West Police, who registered a case, arrested Salma, a resident of Subash Nagar in Mandya on Aug. 21 and produced her before a Magistrate. The Police have taken Salma into their custody for 10 days for questioning and have launched a hunt to nab other accused involved in the case.