Gang robs youth of phone, bike posing as girl on Insta

The victim S Saravanan (20) of Anna Nagar became friends with one ‘Nancy’ on Instagram a week ago and they kept chatting till Nancy, on Sunday, asked Saravanan to accompany her to church. An excited Saravanan promptly reached a private school in Surapet on his two-wheeler where Nancy had asked him to arrive. The ‘girl’ then asked him to take a selfie from the spot to confirm that he has reached and he did so without second thoughts. 

A few minutes later, a car pulled over next to Saravanan and four men inside the vehicle told him that ‘Nancy’ has sent them to pick him up. However, after boarding the car, the gang attacked him and snatched his mobile phone, while one of them hopped on to his two-wheeler and sped away. 

Realising that he was duped by fake ‘Nancy’, Saravanan approached Puzhal police who registered a case and secured the suspects with the help of the car registration number. D Lokesh (20) of Ambattur, a college student whom the car belongs to was secured and the vehicle was seized. Based on his inputs, the other accused R Vinothkumar (19) of Ambattur, E Pratap (23) of Ambattur and N Praveen (24) of Ambattur were also nabbed and the stolen phone and two-wheeler were recovered. 

Police said the accused were friends from school days and decided to rob people with fake Instagram accounts posing as a girl. They were remanded in judicial custody on Thursday. 

Puzhal police also arrested another four men for robbing two sovereigns from a milk vendor. Among the accused, R Manikandan of Puthagaram is neighbour of the victim, S Ayyanar (57). He hatched a plan with his friends Karthikeyan, Ashok and Vijay to rob Ayyanar as he would be riding a bike alone in the wee hours every day. 

Meanwhile, Kundrathur police arrested a 21-year-old who robbed motorists on the pretext of seeking a lift on Outer Ring Road. 

The accused Arun (21) of Kundrathur was secured with the help of CCTV footage after several such complaints were received. He was remanded in judicial custody.