Diary of an online dating victim: A girl tried to blackmail me and here’s how I escaped

The world of dating is an exciting place. It takes a few clicks, little bit of chit-chatter and you might land into a date soon. But if you think going on an online date is about a long drive, coffee date, a candle-light dinner and all the jazz, my story is going to shatter your ‘rosy’ myth. Here’s how an innocent-looking girl, whom I met on an online dating app, tried to dupe me and almost landed me into trouble…

It was a pretty normal start. I matched with a girl on an online dating app. Her profile mentioned she is a fun loving, sweet person who works in a reputed multinational company. Further, she loved traveling, reading books, long drives, and I was glad that we shared similar areas of interest. I saw her pictures and felt excited thinking what lied ahead.

We chatted for a few days and bonded really well. We started our day with sweet good morning message and stayed connected throughout the day. Till now we had not met in person, but one night she called me up saying she is getting bored at a party and asked me to come and pick her up from there. “We will go on a long drive from there and plan what else we can do,” she exclaimed on the call.

Was it too good to be true? But without brooding much, I said 'yes' and drove my car to pick her up. Finally, we met and our nocturnal drive started. After chatting for about 20 minutes, she suddenly started feeling unwell and asked me to drop her home. Again, without brooding much, I took a U-turn and drove my car to her place. Till now, everything was going normal, right?

What happened next was beyond my imagination. Her house was located in a secluded lane but all I wanted was to drop her back safely. As she reached her so-called home, she started clamouring, “Help, help. Somebody save me from this man.” I was blank for the first ten seconds and wondered what is wrong with her? And after about two minutes, I see a police man running towards our car to ‘rescue’ her from me. Before I could start to defend myself, they both start accusing me of molesting her. Wait, what?

I was shocked. Now, I feared for my safety and cursed myself for meeting her a few hours back. I had no reason to be scared but I was jittery thinking what will happen if they take me to a police station or if she files a court case against me. How will I prove myself innocent? They were hinting towards settling the matter over money, and I had no clue about what to do. But then, I thought about my friend who is a lawyer and called him up to share my predicament.

I handed over the phone to the police officer (whom I had started doubting to be a fake one by now) and my lawyer friend started interrogating him. He asked him about his seniors, a few IPC sections and most importantly, which police station he should file the FIR on my behalf. Within no seconds, I saw the expressions of both of these frauds melting, and there was a change in their attitude. Now, they wanted to escape the situation and were looking for ways to settle the argument. I felt a little confident, and asked them to accompany me to the nearest police station. And here comes the most surprising part! The girl, all of a sudden, decided to change her stance and said she did not want to pursue this case further. The duo gave me a disgusted look and left the place within no time after hanging up the call. That night, I thanked my stars and vowed to myself to think twice before going for any online date. (Representational images)