22-year-old lured by sexting, robbed

Thiruvananthapuram: When his long-time friend started sexting on social media messenger moments after she asked a loan of Rs 1 lakh, he failed to see the trap awaiting him and walked straight into it the same day and ended up losing his money, smart phone and a two-wheeler.
Three days after the incident, the police have arrested the young woman and her husband, who lured the 22-year-old youth into a honey trap and robbed him. The police identified the accused as Jinu Jayan (19) of Nanthancode and her husband Vishnu (24) of Kannammoola. Jinu is an LLB student and Vishnu, a BTech graduate, who is working as an interior designer.

The police also arrested five other youths for aiding the young couple in the crime. They are Abin Shah (22) of Madhavapuram (Zakeer Hussain (22) of Vettucaud, Mansoor (20) of Vettucaud, Stalin (20) of Vazhayila and Vivek (21) of Sarkara near Chirayinkeezh.

According to the police, the incident related to the crime took place on last Saturday. The two main accused lured the complainant to their house at Kannammoola. He turned up along with a friend. The gang, who were waiting for them, physically assaulted him and snatched his mobile phone worth Rs 40,000 and debit card. They also confiscated his motorcycle. They also threatened them that if they dared to speak about it to anyone, they would file a complaint against them for sexually harassing Jinu with the messages he sent her, including text messages and voice clips, as evidence.

The accused then took both youths to Medical College Hospital and told the doctors that they met with an accident.

“The doctor was sceptical about their nature of injuries, but, since the injured youths too maintained that they met with an accident, the doctor decided not to dig deeper,” said Pettah station house officer inspector G P Sajukumar.

The inspector said that the complainant, who was a BCom student, and main accused Jinu Jayan had been friends for a few years. They regularly used to chat through Facebook messenger. But this was the first time they engaged in sexting.

It was only five months ago, she married her childhood friend Vishnu. On Saturday, while chatting, Jinu asked the complainant to lend her a sum of Rs One lakh for treatment of her husband, who had recently met with a road accident. When he said he did not have that much money, she left the matter and continued chatting, which soon drifted into sexting.

“Actually, Vishnu was also with her while Jinu chatted with the complainant. She sent voice clips in order to gain his trust,” Sajukumar said. After inviting the complainant to their residence, Vishnu called Abin Shah and Ashiq, who were his schoolmates and told them that the complainant in the case had been stalking his wife and he had cleverly invited him to the house. The unsuspecting duo in turn summoned the three others for help.

“Though they were unaware of the secret plan of the couple, they accepted a sum of Rs 2,000 each from Vishnu, which made them equally liable for the crime,” the inspector said.

All the accused were produced before the court and remanded in judicial custody.