Hyderabad man lured, robbed on gay dating app; five arrested

The main accused and his accomplices threatened the victim with a knife and forced him to withdraw Rs 40,000 from an ATM centre

Hyderabad: Five youngsters, who lured and robbed a man after befriending him on ‘Grindr App’, the popular free dating app serving the LGBTQ community, were arrested by the Mirchowk police on Wednesday.

The arrested are Syed Fahad Ali (22), a supervisor, Mohd Tauheeduddin (22), Syed Roumaanullah Hussaini, (21), Mohd Abdul Rauf (22) and Mohd Shoaib Khan (20), all students from old city.

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Sneha Mehra, DCP (south) said Syed Fahad had created an account on Grindr App and befriended the victim who is a resident of Dabeerpura. After chatting for some time, Fahad asked him to come to a designated place in Mirchowk area on January 19.

“When the victim came, Fahad and his accomplices threatened the victim with a knife and took him to an ATM centre. They forced him to withdraw Rs 40,000 and took away the amount from him,” said Sneha Mehra.

The victim initially did not approach the police. On February 1, he came to the Mirchowk police station and made a complaint. Based on the footages recorded by the closed circuit cameras at the ATM centre, the police identified Fahad Ali.

Fahad was taken into custody and on interrogation he revealed the names of his associates who were then rounded up. All the five persons were booked for committing dacoity and remanded.