Noida: A gang that allegedly sedated and robbed several people after getting in touch with them via a dating
app
in Noida has been busted. Three of its members, including two women, were arrested in Bhangel on Tuesday.
According to police, the accused have been identified as Vinod, a resident of
Vijay Nagar
,
Puja Sharma
from
Muradnagar
and
Punam Mehto
from Delhi. Gold and silver ornaments amounting to Rs 5 lakh, 10 debit cards, four mobile phones and some sedatives have been recovered from them. Two other members are on the run, police said.
The gang allegedly befriended people on a dating app and called them for meetings in hotels. There, they offered the targets cold drinks laced with sedatives. Once the targets fell unconscious, the suspects used to flee with their valuables.
On January 8, one of the arrested women called a resident of Sector 82, whom she had met on a dating app, asking him to meet him at a hotel. The man arrived in his car.
“The woman met him at the hotel and spoke with him for a while, after which she said she had to meet someone urgently. She borrowed the man’s car and left. While the man kept on waiting, she didn’t return,” ADCP (Noida Central) Elamaran G said.
The man then filed a complaint and an FIR was filed under Section 406 (criminal breach of trust) of IPC at Phase 2 police station.
“Our investigation has revealed that the stolen car is with them. We have launched a search to arrest them,” an officer said.
The ADCP, meanwhile, said police received a tip-off that the accused would be near Labour Chowk in Bhangel on Tuesday. A police team reached the spot and arrested the trio.
“The accused used to approach people and talk with them on dating app and later call them to hotels and guesthouses. They sedated the victims and robbed them,” he said. The trio was produced in court and sent to judicial custody on Tuesday.
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