Greater Noida: Man befriended on social media, robbed of ₹1 lakh; 2 held

Police identified the suspects as Arpit Yadav, originally from Etawah, and Prince Kumar from Mainpuri, both reside in rented accommodation in Greater Noida and do part time jobs

Greater Noida: Police on Friday arrested two of the five suspects for allegedly robbing a 24-year-old BTech student of ₹99,733 after befriending him through a social media platform in December 2024.

The suspects used to target homosexual men through social media applications and rob them, threatening dire consequences and revealing their identity in public, police said. (Representational image)

Police identified the suspects as Arpit Yadav, originally from Etawah, and Prince Kumar from Mainpuri. Both reside in rented accommodation in Greater Noida and do part time jobs, officers said.

The victim told HT that he came across a man via social media platform and on December 7, the man asked him to meet outside his college. Then, he took him on a bike to an isolated area in Surajpur where four other men blocked them and robbed the student forcing him to use his UPI ID and password, linked to his mother’s account.

“I approached the police more than 30 times in the last three months. I was informed that ₹95,000 had been frozen, but I have not received a single penny yet,” he added.

Deputy commissioner of police (Greater Noida) Sudhir Kumar, however, said: “The money was spent by the suspects. An investigation is underway to recover the amount. So far, the involvement of three suspects has come to light.”

“With the help of technical surveillance, we arrested two suspects from the Knowledge Park area on Friday. Efforts are underway to nab another. They have been booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections for robbery, causing hurt, and criminal intimidation at Knowledge Park 2 police station, and further investigation is underway,” he added.

Explaining their modus operandi, the officer said, “The suspects used to target homosexual men through social media applications and rob them, threatening dire consequences and revealing their identity in public. Investigation is underway to check how many people had fallen into their trap.”