HYDERABAD: In a bizarre case of love, lies, and blackmail, a 46-year-old accountant's fantasy of dating a younger woman turned into a nightmare when he woke up naked next to a woman he didn't know—only to be accused of murder by a gang of fake cops and blackmailed for Rs 10 lakh.
But the tale did not end there.
The fraudsters approached the accountant's wife for a ransom. But when she refused to pay up, they gave up on the plot and let the man go.
The audacious plan unravelled after the victim, an accountant at a jewellery shop in Banjara Hills, lodged a police complaint, leading to the arrest of five people, including the woman who lured him, and her husband.
It all began on July 19, when he met a 27-year-old woman he had previously encountered at a Kukatpally pub. Hoping to impress her, the accountant claimed he was a globe-trotting jeweller. After a night of heavy drinking, she offered to drop him off near Banjara Hills, where his bike was parked.
But the drive took a nasty turn. As they approached NFCL junction, an SUV intercepted their scooter. A group of men dragged him into the vehicle, blindfolded him, and demanded access to his phone by forcing him to reveal his passcode. He soon lost consciousness.
At around 6 am the next morning, he woke up in an unknown location. There, the gang showed him explicit photos and videos on his own phone—of him lying naked beside an unfamiliar nude woman. Posing as ‘task force police', they accused him of murdering the woman and threatened to leak the photos online unless he paid Rs 10 lakh.
Terrified, the accountant was escorted to his home in Attapur in an auto, arranged using his phone. One of the gang members accompanied him and stayed back while he was sent alone to collect the money. The accused kept his phone and a 16-gram gold chain with them. However, with no access to such funds, the plan backfired.
In desperation, the gang sent the nude photos and video to the accountant's wife, hoping she'd pay up. But her reply shocked them: "If my husband committed a murder, arrest him."
Failed ransom bidRealising they wouldn't get any money, the gang cut off contact. Shaken, the victim confided in friends, who urged him to approach the police. On July 26, he filed a complaint with Banjara Hills police, who swiftly launched an investigation.
By Thursday, police arrested the entire gang — the 27-year-old, a dancer at the Kukatpally pub, her husband, a bouncer-cum-event manager, two other bouncers and a travel agent. The dancer's husband told police that the woman in the video was in dire financial need and had been hired for Rs 15,000 to pose nude beside the accountant.
Police have booked the accused under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for kidnapping, extortion, and criminal intimidation. The SUV and scooter used in the crime have been seized. "The accused have been remanded in judicial custody," said Banjara Hills inspector KM Raghavendra.
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