Going with transgenders to a hotel in a drunken stupor proved costly for a 49-year-old man from Andhra Pradesh. They took his nude videos and blackmailed him for Rs 4.3 lakh.
Shaik Srinivas, from Prakasam district, had come to Bengaluru on a business trip. He went to a pub on Residency Road around 12.50 am on December 31 and consumed alcohol. He later dined at a Kerala restaurant.
While walking back to his hotel room, he bumped into two transgenders near an educational institution on Residency Road. They took him in an auto-rickshaw. The group checked into a room at Octave Suites, a hotel on Residency Road, around 2.30 am.
The transgenders stripped him, removed his wristwatch, gold chain, ring, two debit cards and Rs 40,000, and kept them all on a table. They later threatened him and snatched the cash and the debit cards. They demanded that he reveal the PIN.
When he refused, the transgenders filmed him and blackmailed him. Srinivas disclosed the PIN of both cards.
The transgenders then called two of their friends to the hotel and handed them debit cards, asking them to withdraw money from the ATM. Meanwhile, the transgenders in the hotel transferred Rs 1 lakh to their account from a digital wallet. The other transgenders returned to the hotel after 40 minutes.
Srinivas was given his belongings back. He checked the balance and learnt that the transgenders had withdrawn Rs 2 lakh from one card and Rs 90,000 from another card. In total, they duped him out of Rs 4.3 lakh. He filed a police complaint and went back to his hometown.
While police have taken up a case, an officer pointed out that the victim himself booked the hotel room.
“We will call him once again to record his statement. We are verifying CCTV footage to get clues about the four transgenders. We will catch them soon,” the officer added.