Honey trap: He didn't even touch her but still paid Rs 10 lakh

The women, claiming to be bank employees, called up Gangadhar and sweet-talked him into opening a new bank account. The realtor, believing that this was his chance to romance the bank employees, was in touch with them for days, before going to meet them at Avalahalli, where he was trapped by Manjunath - his former tenant and neighbour.

Manjunath, the main accused in this honey trap, is also an accused in a murder case at the Hulimavu police station and was out on bail only six months ago. He had stayed in one of the houses that Gangadhar rented out. Though he had hardly met the realtor, he was aware of Gangadhar's financial status.

Manjunath got in touch with two sex workers and used them to trap Gangadhar. Jayanthi and Rukmani posed as bank employees and got in touch with Gangadhar. After 15 days of phone calls and chats, the women asked the victim to meet them in person on March 26 . 

"Gangadhar went to meet the lady at Avalahalli, thinking he can hook up with her, but a group was waiting there to ambush him. They forced him to abandon his bike and took him in a car to a room in Bengaluru's outskirts. The accused stripped him and shot a video of him in compromising positions," a senior police official said.

"The victim was then asked to make a call to arrange for money. After the money and some gold was obtained, he was released. Manjunath and his accomplices had warned Gangadhar of leaking the phone conservation and the video if he approached the police," he added.

Interestingly, the victim didn't even touch the girls who trapped him. He had to pay cash and gold worth Rs 10 lakh for just talking to them over the phone.

The incident came to light when the victim's friend, who had arranged the cash, approached the police on March 27. The police used the phone numbers of the women to track down the gang. After extorting money from Gangadhar, the accused had gone to Goa, Pondicherry and Dharmasthala.

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