Noida: In a shocking case of brutality, four people have been arrested for allegedly sodomising a gay man and then blackmailing him for money by threatening to share a video of the act online, Greater Noida police said on Thursday. The accused, all in their early 20s, connected with the man through Grindr, a dating app for the LGBTQ community, officials said. “The victim told police that the four men called him for a meeting and sodomised him. They later thrashed him and forced him to transfer Rs 5,000 through PhonePe app to them,” an official spokesperson said, adding they released him but threatened to post the video online if he didn’t pay them Rs 2 lakh.
An FIR has been lodged in this regard at Beta 2 police station under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 342 (wrongful confinement), 377 (unnatural offences) and 384 (extortion) of the Indian Penal Code. The arrested accused have been identified as Gaurav, Gautam, Sachin and Mohit natives of Bulandshahr district, police said. The mobile phone used by them to make the video was seized, they added.
According to police, the gang of four has committed such heinous crimes with similar modus operandi in the past as well. They are also accused of demanding a ransom of Rs 1 crore from a Delhi Municipal Corporation official, they said.
(With inputs from PTI)