CHENNAI: A man posing as a woman befriended his friend over Instagram, made him come to Puzhal lake to snatch away a phone that he had stolen from him last month.
Saravanan, 20 of Anna Nagar East, had lodged a complaint with the Puzhal police about a five-member gang, who kidnapped him and snatched his phone and bike at Puzhal Lake. The man, identified as Lokesh, 20, executed the plan with four others - a college student and his friends Vinoth Kumar, 19 of Oragadam, Prathap, 23 of Gandhi Nagar, Praveen, 24 of Kalaivanar street, and a juvenile, the Police said.
Interrogations with them revealed that Saravanan stole the mobile phone from Lokesh on January 18. He had planned on getting back his stolen phone from Saravanan as the Ambathur police had not taken any action, despite a complaint being filed.
In order to get back his phone, Lokesh had started an Instagram account in the name of a girl last week. He claimed to be in love with Saravanan and requested him to come to Puzhal lake. As soon as he arrived, Lokesh and his friends masked their faces, beat him up, and took away his mobile phone and two-wheeler.