Overview
- The complainant, who filed a police case Thursday, says he was befriended on the Polo app, taken to a room behind Surendranagar Medical College, assaulted, stripped and filmed before being blackmailed for Rs 31,000.
- Surendranagar City A-Division Police say they arrested seven men within hours of the complaint and recovered the full Rs 31,000 allegedly taken from the victim.
- Police named the seven accused and said one, Shakti Manojbhai Bajipara, has prior bookings in honeytrap-related cases.
- Authorities registered a FIR under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for extortion, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation, assault and unlawful assembly and used technical surveillance and local intelligence to trace suspects.
- Investigators note the victim delayed reporting for weeks because of fear and stigma, and they are now probing whether the same online networks targeted other victims, a move that could encourage more people to come forward.