New Delhi, Nov 4 (PTI) Two men, including the owner of a cafe in northwest Delhi's Hudson Lane, have been arrested for allegedly extorting around Rs 26,000 from a customer who was lured there on the pretext of a blind date through a dating application, police said on Wednesday.
The complainant, a resident of Bihar's West Champaran, came in contact with a woman identifying herself as Sanya on a dating application on November 1, they said.
She invited him for a blind date and asked him to meet near GTB Nagar Metro Station around 6.30-7 pm, from where she took him to a cafe in Hudson Lane, police said.
At the cafe, the woman allegedly ordered several food items and drinks, including whisky. After some time, the complainant was handed a handwritten bill of around Rs 26,000, which he questioned, they said.
The cafe owner and staff allegedly pressured him to pay the amount immediately and threatened him when he objected. The complainant was also allegedly prevented from leaving the cafe until the payment was made.
Fearing for his safety, the man contacted his father, who transferred the money online. The initial payment attempts through a QR code provided by the cafe owner failed, following which another QR code displaying the name of Naveen Rajput was provided.
The complainant transferred the amount through the second QR code and was subsequently allowed to leave, police said.
The woman switched off her mobile phone and became untraceable after the incident, following which the complainant informed his father, who made a PCR call, they said.
A case was registered at Mukherjee Nagar police station under sections 308(2) (extortion) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and an investigation was taken up.
The police arrested the cafe owner, Javed (38), a resident of Ghaziabad, and Anuj Kumar (24), also a resident of Ghaziabad, from the cafe, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest) Akanksha Yadav said.
Both accused have no previous criminal involvement, police said, adding that efforts are underway to trace the woman, identified as Sanya alias Nikita, and ascertain the involvement of other persons in the alleged extortion racket.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)