Love & other 'drugs'? Former bar dancer, 5 others held for honey- trapping, extorting city techie

The victim, a 41-year-old software professional working at a multi-national aviation company in Mahadevapura, had downloaded a dating app. He matched with a woman, after which the crime unfolded.

Bengaluru: A former bar dancer is among six people arrested in northern Bengaluru for extorting Rs 2 lakh from a techie through a honey trap, police said on Monday. 

The suspects have been identified as Sangeeta Sahni, 36; Sharanabasappa Baliger, 50; Raju Mane, 34; Abhishek, 19; Beerabal Majjagi, 21; and Shyam Sundar Pande, 20. 

Sangeeta, a native of UP, previously worked as a dance girl at a bar, according to police. 

A senior police officer described Baliger as the prime suspect, noting that he had earlier been booked in a similar case by the Puttenahalli police. Police are still checking the background of other suspects, the officer added. 

The victim, a 41-year-old software professional working at a multi-national aviation company in Mahadevapura, had downloaded a dating app. He matched with a woman, who introduced herself as Rakhi, a business analyst from Bengaluru and a native of Rajasthan. 

How the incident unfolded

After chatting online for some time, the women called him to a mall in Yelahanka. They had coffee at a Starbucks outlet and she invited him over to her place later, cops said. 

At her house in Ramagondanahalli, near Whitefield, she offered him alcohol. No sooner did he take a few sips he heard a knock on the door. 

As soon as the woman opened the door, four men barged in. The woman told the techie that one of them was her landlord. 

However, the four men confronted the techie and accused him of taking drugs. They checked the woman’s vanity bag and pulled out sachets of white powder, claiming it was contraband. 

The woman reportedly ran inside the bathroom and locked herself in, sobbing that her life was 'ruined'. She was none other than Sangeeta, according to police.

Meanwhile, the four began negotiating with the techie to let him go. "They initially demanded Rs 15 lakh but eventually settled for Rs 2 lakh. He transferred the money," a police officer said. 

The techie, a Telangana native living in Bengaluru for the last 15 years, filed a complaint at the Yelahanka police station on July 21 after confiding to his friends. Police are verifying his personal details in connection with the case.

Investigations revealed that the gang had rented the house in Ramagondanahalli specifically to carry out such cons. 

The white powder recovered the woman's bag turned out to be baking soda.