Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Nov 28: A honey trap on the lines of the one which came to light recently in Madhya Pradesh has come to light in Karnataka. As per current indications, during the last couple of years, six to seven people's representatives were made to cough up several crores of rupees.
The city central police have arrested eight persons including girls who had recorded intimate scenes in the company of former ministers and legislators and then threatened them of making the videos public if they did not pay hefty sums. Raghavendra alias Raghu, resident of Parappana Agrahara, a lady said to be his friend, a girl from Whitefield, and Uday, in addition to four more, whose identities are not known, have been arrested in this connection.
Raghavendra, employed in a shop dealing in cell phones, had come to know about cyber crime and enormous opportunities honey trap offered to make money in a big way. He discussed this issue with his girl friend and sought her support. Later, they expanded their realm of operation by getting to know people engaged in running brothels. They then used services of the call girls to expand their business.
The usual trick used by Raghavendra and his lady accomplice was to meet people's representatives with some problems. In course of time, they developed friendship and met them often at various places. Once these leaders fell to these tactics, they used to contact call girls and used their services. They booked hotel rooms for people's representatives who were willing to spend time with the girls, recorded the bedroom activities on secret cameras and then demanded payment of money by threatening to share videos, sources stated.
In the recent past, the lady accomplice of Raghavendra who had got recording of a former minister in the company of girl, had threatened to upload the same in media and social websites. She along with Raghavendra demanded payment of Rs 25 crore, and brought down the demand to Rs 10 crore. They succeeded in collecting a huge sum in this case.
This former minister, who felt overwhelmed by the blackmail tactics, contacted an influential minister in the state for help. The minister asked the police to nab the culprits. The police, who followed up the case for about a week, succeeded in arresting Raghavendra's friend, and a person running the brothel, on September 23. On Tuesday November 26 night, they succeeded in arresting Raghavendra and another lady from Davanagere.
Initially, the police had contacted Raghavendra with a request to settle the issue through dialogues. But Raghavendra handed over the video to a person named Uday in Gadag district before going missing, sources added.
The police said that Raghavendra has been taken into ten days police custody for advanced investigation.