Two individuals have been arrested within the case
New Delhi:
When a civil service aspirant right-swiped on a relationship app, he had no concept he was strolling right into a sinister plot fastidiously deliberate to rip-off males searching for love.
On Sunday, the sufferer, not named by the police, reached the Black Mirror Cafe in East Delhi’s Vikas Marg space to rejoice the birthday of Versha, a lady he had not too long ago matched with on “Tinder”.
On the cafe, the 2 ordered some snacks, two desserts, and 4 photographs of a non-alcoholic beverage.
The “date” was going fairly properly till Versha needed to rush out attributable to a household emergency.
As the person completed the meals and known as for the test, the invoice surprised him – he owed the cafe an obscene Rs 1,21,917.70 for meals that ought to not price quite a lot of thousand.
The sufferer promptly disputed the invoice however he was threatened, confined, and compelled to pay. The person ended up transferring the quantity on-line to one of many cafe’s house owners – 32-year-old Akshay Pahwa. Mr Pahwa is a resident of Shahdara in East Delhi and has studied until Class 10.
As soon as out of the cafe, he went straight to the cops and filed a case.
The police got down to probe the case and a four-member crew led by Inspector Sanjay Gupta was fashioned. Quickly, Mr Pahwa was within the police’s custody.
Through the investigation, he instructed the police that the Black Mirror cafe is owned by him, Ansh Grover, and Vansh Pahwa. Akshay and Vansh are cousins, whereas Ansh is their good friend. The cafe employs a number of “desk managers”, together with one man named Aryan; and these “desk managers” are managed by one Digranshu, he mentioned. Aryan is a Class 7 dropout and is presently unemployed.
Mr Pahwa additionally gave up Versha – 25-year-old Afsan Parveen, who additionally goes by the names Ayesha and Noor. When the cops tracked her down, Ms Parveen was at one other cafe on a “date” with a person from Mumbai she had met on Shaadi.com.
Ms Parveen revealed their modus operandi to the police.
Aryan had reached out to the sufferer and communicated with him posing as Versha. He shared Ms Parveen’s picture within the one-time view mode and invited him to Laxmi Nagar on June 23 to rejoice her birthday.
As soon as on the cafe, Ms Parveen feigned a household emergency and rushed out as deliberate and her date was handed the invoice.
Every participant has a reduce: 15% of the quantity they cost these unsuspecting males goes to Ms Parveen, 45% is split between the desk and cafe managers, and the remaining 40% to the house owners.
A number of such schemes are in play in main metro cities, together with Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad to extort cash from unwitting victims, the police mentioned.
These elaborate plans thrive on a well-oiled collusion mechanism involving cafe house owners, managers, and others who right-swipe on the “proper” males on the relationship apps, they added.
The “desk managers” create faux profiles on these apps and lure males to the cafes the place they’re overcharged for meals and drinks, the police mentioned. In the event that they refuse to pay, they’re threatened, crushed, or saved in confinement till they comply.
Social stigma typically prevents males from reporting such incidents, the police added.
The police arrested Ms Parveen and Mr Pahwa and seized their telephones and the cafe’s register. The investigation is in progress and efforts are being made to arrest different accused, the police mentioned.
