A resident of who “met” a woman through a dating app was honey trapped in an apartment in Golf Green and blackmailed to pay ₹1 lakh against his release, police said.

A couple — who allegedly ran this racket and their associates — confined the man in an apartment in Golf Green on Sunday afternoon and demanded the ransom.

The plan, however, did not work and the couple and two of their accomplices were arrested.

When the couple confined the man in the apartment and demanded the ransom, he called his family in Patuli to arrange the money.

The family, in turn, reported the matter to Patuli police station and the cops captured two of the alleged kidnappers from Ranikuthi where the ransom was to be delivered.

Based on the statement of the two, the police reached the Golf Green apartment and rescued the victim.

The woman, who allegedly trapped him, and her husband were arrested from that apartment, the police said on Monday.

The victim, in his 20s who works as a professional video editor, had met this woman through a dating app.

“They met through a dating app and exchanged WhatsApp numbers. The woman invited him to an apartment at Aurobinda-nagar in Golf Green saying it was her home. When the man reached, she told him to park his bike inside the building compound and come upstairs,” said a Kolkata Police officer.

As the man got drenched in the rain, the woman asked him to remove his shirt and offered him a beer can.

“The man had barely settled when three men, including the woman’s husband who were waiting in the adjoining room, barged in and started hitting him and clicking his photographs. They demanded ₹1 lakh to release him,” said the officer.

The victim contacted his family in Patuli and asked them to arrange the amount.

Two of the alleged kidnappers took the victim’s motorcycle to collect the ransom from Ranikuthi but were arrested from the spot. The cops raided the apartment, rescued the victim and arrested the couple.

The police identified the accused as Babusona Mondal, 26, his wife Anisha Das, 23,
Saikat Paul, 28 and Peter D’cruze, 23.

Officers said at least two more were involved in the racket, who fled the spot. A search has been launched to find them.