Kerala man’s Grindr encounter ends in gold robbery, police bust gang that ‘cheated at least 20 men’

According to police, the complainant had recently downloaded Grindr. Last Thursday night, one of the gang members established a connection with the young man via the app. The gang then lured him to a location in the Mookkannur area under Venjaramood police station limits in Thiruvananthapuram, police said. While he spent time with two of the gang members inside a car in a seemingly deserted area, the two others in the gang suddenly appeared, started questioning him, pulled him out of the car and allegedly assaulted him, police said.

The man was then blindfolded and taken to another location near the Palod area in the district, where he was abandoned after he was robbed of the gold chain.

Venjaramoodu Station House Officer Azad Abdul Kalam said the victim told police that he was robbed on the highway. “He was reluctant to disclose the details. But with the help of the cyber wing of the police, we collected the details of the incident, leading to the arrest of the gang. The fourth accused, an 18-year-old native of Chithara, was arrested that day itself. Later, three others were nabbed from Alappuzha, while they were on their way to Kochi,” said the inspector.

Others arrested in the gang are Sudheer, 24, Muhammed Salman, 19, and Ashique, 19. “They are unemployed youths who were running the racket for the last six months. We have come to know that the gang had cheated at least 20 people in the last six months. But the victims are not ready to file a complaint. In another incident, the gang had extorted Rs 1 lakh from a victim,” said the inspector.

Police said that since the gang and the victim communicated solely via Grindr, it made tracing them difficult. The gang had deleted all details of their interactions from the victim’s mobile phone.