Two serial offenders among four held in MKB Nagar Grindr app robbery case
Police recover 181 grams of gold and 1 kg of silver
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CHENNAI: Three days after a 26-year-old man was robbed of 30 sovereigns gold jewellery and 2.5 kilograms of silver articles at his residence in MKB Nagar by his ‘Grindr date’ and accomplices, the police have arrested four persons including a couple and a 17-year-old girl in connection with the robbery.
According to the police, the victim, who runs a garment business, on Wednesday, had invited an acquaintance whom he knew through 'Grindr' (a social networking and dating app for LGBTQ persons) when his parents were away.
Two other persons, a man, and a minor girl, had come along with the 'Grindr date' and after a while, the gang threatened the victim with a knife and attacked him and tied him up. He was locked in a bathroom after which the trio looted 30 sovereigns of gold jewellery and 2.5 kg of silver articles from the house and fled the scene.
After managing to free himself, the victim alerted the MKB Nagar police who visited his house and conducted preliminary investigations. After CCTV footage confirmed the entry of persons into the house and leaving hurriedly in an auto-rickshaw, special teams were formed to trace the suspects.
A special team on Saturday arrested R Jayanthinathan (34), a "B" category rowdy, his wife, Esther, and M Iyappan (34), an "A" category rowdy. After investigations, the police also arrested a 17-year-old girl who had accompanied the trio.
The police recovered 181 grams of gold and 1 kg of silver from the arrested persons. The probe revealed that Jayanthinathan had visited the victim a week before the incident and after learning about the valuables in the house, he had plotted the robbery.
The city police commissioner A Arun has already written to the authorities to suspend/ban Grindr, a social networking and dating app for LGBTQ persons as the city police probe into synthetic drug networks revealed that the app has frequently featured as the medium through which suppliers reached out to peddlers and customers. The city police have appealed to the public to be wary of using such apps.
