It’s a tale of social networking gone horribly wrong, of internet sites misused to commit gory crime.
Police uncovered the evil web that sisters Shivani and Preeti, alias Apoorva, spun around networking sites to lure engineering student Tushar Kumar into a deadly honeytrap.
Shivani contacted Tushar, now dead, over the phone on January 10, claiming she had got his contact number from his page on Orkut. She expressed interest in a friendship with him. They met for the first time at a KFC outlet in Sanjaynagar.
Oblivious of the fact that the KFC meeting was the beginning of his end, Tushar agreed to meet her again on January 13, but postponed the date by a day, since he had to sit for an exam on January 14.
Tushar reached Esteem Mall in Kempapura near Hebbal on Bellary Main Road at the appointed hour with his friend, Ayushman Lal. The sisters were waiting for him at the mall.
The girls suggested that Tushar accompany them to their friend Rohit’s place on Attur Layout Main Road, to ‘chill out’. They, however, sent Lal back to his residence in Chikkabanavara, saying Rohit’s room was too small for so many people.
Tushar left with the girls, and that was the last time Lal saw his friend alive. At Rohit’s room, the host’s friend Waris also joined the youngsters.
After a few rounds of liquor, they asked Tushar to act as if he had been kidnapped, and contact his father over the phone.
Tushar refused. Their persistence angered him and he threw a few punches at them. The other two men fought back, and smashed a bottle on the student’s head, before strangulating him to death. The gang packed Tushar’s body in two gunny bags stitched together, and dumped it in a eucalyptus grove at Kempanahalli in Attur Layout, Yelahanka on January 15.
The murderers then called up Promod Mehta, Tushar’s father, in Patna, and demanded a ransom of Rs15 lakh to ‘release’ his kidnapped son.
Businessman Mehta bargained, and brought the amount down to Rs9 lakh. He reached the city with the money on January 18.
Mehta met Tushar’s friend Lal in Bangalore, and learnt that his son had gone with two girls. The next day, he went to the Amruthahalli police station and lodged a complaint. The police swung into action and laid a trap.
Mehta went to the City Railway Station with the money as directed by the gang, and handed over the ransom to Rohit.
Even before the accused could check the currency notes, a team of plainclothesmen from the city police pounced on him and took him into custody.
The police said Rohit led them to Waris, Shivani and Preeti.
Tushar’s friends said the girls had touched base with the deceased through his Facebook account. They had used fictitious names, Purvi and Varsha.
