Chennai: Next time a woman stranger indulges in small talk at the bus stand, beware, for it might not be Cupid, but a crooked mind plotting to extort your valuables. At least 10 men learnt it the hard way when the soft-spoken lady threatened them that she would raise an alarm accusing the men seeking sexual favours if they don’t part with their valuables.
The lady, 36-year-old Asha Soundarya of Bengaluru was arrested by the Vadapalani police on Tuesday night, ending her run of six months evading the city police.Police said that they have received complaints from men in regular intervals since January this year about a woman robbing them by this method. Some, police said are unassuming elderly men who thought the lady was in some dire need and thought they would be of some help to a woman in distress. “In fact, most of the men she targeted were above 50 years of age. Afraid of being publicly shamed, the men give in to her demands and parted away with their valuables,” a senior police officer said.
However, police couldn’t trace the accused immediately as she was not in their list of regular offenders. Enquiries with the victims revealed that the woman sped away in a black scooter immediately after relieving the men of their valuables.
“So, we scanned the CCTV footages in and around the scene of the crime to get an image of the woman,” an investigating official said. While the identity of the woman was established, police had to play the waiting game, as the woman doesn’t stay in the city for long. A resident of Lingarajapuram in Bengaluru, Asha visited the city once in a month. “She usually lodges herself at a hostel in Vadapalani,” the officer added.Further investigations revealed that had several similar cases against her in Bengaluru . Around 20 sovereigns of gold jewellery and the scooter used for the escape were recovered from her.
