Noida: Gang using dating app to rob people busted

noida: Noida police have busted a gang that allegedly sedated and robbed several people after getting in touch with them via dating app. Police have arrested three members of the gang, including two women, from Sector 113 police station area on Sunday. Cops said that the accused have robbed nearly 50 people in the past eight months to the tune of lakhs of rupees.

According to police, the arrested accused were identified as Sara Hussain and Sana Ali, both native of Rajasthan and Sandeep Singh, a resident of Vijay Nagar, Ghaziabad. Police acted on the complaint received in which the victim alleged that he had been honey-trapped by some people, who robbed him after giving sleeping pills.

Sharing the modus operandi of the gang, Kumar Ranvijay Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Noida, said that the female gang members would contact men through dating apps. "They would begin a chat and exchange contact numbers, after which, they would fix up meetings at hotels where they would check in with fake ids. During the conversation, they would mix a heavy dose of a sedative in their drinks. When the victim fell unconscious, they would flee with all the cash and valuables," Singh said.

Police said that the accused were arrested by the Sector 113 police station from FNG road where they were caught while travelling in one of the cars they had robbed from one of their victims. "On January 20, police have recovered body of one Umesh Sharma from a hotel in Sector 117 while his car was missing.

"Another similar complaint was made by a trader from Noida phase-2 who was sedated in a hotel room and his valuables along with a vehicle was stolen. On Saturday, the police received a tip-off on the stolen vehicle that was under surveillance and the gang was apprehended on FNG road during a blockade," Sharad Kant, SHO of Sector-113 police station, said.

Police have found a stolen vehicle, ID card and Debit card of Umesh Sharma and sedative drugs including 54 tablets of Lorazepam. They have been booked under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 389 (putting fear in someone for extortion), 384 (extortion), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 394 (robbery), and 34 (criminal act with common intention) of the IPC.