The MRA Marg police, on Saturday, arrested three men in connection with duping a 32-year-old gay person after one of them befriended him on an online dating website. The accused were arrested by the Vakola police recently after they had tried to extort money from another person on April 5.
According to MRA Marg police, the accused are Salim alias Sahil Shaikh (31), Avdhut Hatankar (27) and Rayees Shaikh (37). The police said the victim, who works as an engineer with merchant navy and is originally from Jabalpur, met Sahil on a dating website on March 25 following which they exchanged mobile numbers. Sahil then called the accused the next day and the two decided to meet in a hotel in south Mumbai.
While the two men were in the hotel room, Sahil's friends, Hatankar and Naeem, knocked on the door and barged inside. They then threatened the victim that they would expose him. Following this they took his laptop and camera, collectively worth Rs 43,000. The three then left the hotel. The victim then approached the MRA Marg police and lodged a complaint.
Ashok Jagdale, senior inspector of MRA Marg police station, said: "The victim approached the Vakola police after he had read about a similar incident in which four men were arrested, and then approached us, and identified the accused. Based on this information, we took the three into custody."
The MRA Marg police have booked the three under IPC section 392 (robbery).
In the Vakola incident, Sahil met the victim online and then went to his Santacruz (east) house, following which his three friends—Avdhut, Rayees and Ambadas—barged into the house and after threatening the victim in a similar manner, took an IPad and a laptop worth Rs 40,000 from his house. They also demanded Rs 80,000 from the victim and came to collect it the next day when they were arrested by the Vakola police.
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