Two Maharashtra men who ordered Gauri killing on the SIT radar

Mangaluru, Jan 10: Two members of a notorious honey-trap gang that used to lure rich men using women and then extort money from them by staging fake police raid have been arrested by the Dakshina Kannada district police.

Lohith, a resident of Kushalnagara, and Sharif from Vittal, were arrested in connection with a honey-trap case registered in Uppinangady police station. Jamal, Jeevan and Naushad, who were also involved in the case, are absconding.

Police said they received information that a few people under the guise of being Kerala police, were planning to raid a resort near Uppinangady where two couples were staying.

They were informed that they would threaten and try to extort money from them. The police were tipped off about the same by their counterparts in Kerala.

Police said the accused are experts in setting honeytraps, and were involved in similar crimes since a long time. Their modus operandi was to use two women from Mangaluru to lure their intended targets.

Once they trap their target, the woman and victim are sent to resorts. They then raid the resort posing as police officials, and click pictures in compromising positions of the victim with the woman.

They threaten to release the pictures on social media or TV channels, if they fail to pay up.

Police said the accused demanded Rs 10 lakh from each victim, but they denied to pay up. Irked by this, the accused took away the victims’ belongings such as phone, money and car.

The victims who believed that the accused were police personnel, asked them to take them to the police station. Instead of taking them to the police, the accused took them to a secluded place, where they claimed that they were putting the victims under house arrest. Police have seized an SUV from the accused.

Bengaluru, Apr 10: With 10 new COVID-19 cases, Karnataka's tally of coronavirus cases has climbed to 207, the Karnataka government has said.

The 207 COVID-19 cases include 30 discharged and 6 deaths. Out of 10 new cases, 9 are close contacts of people who had earlier tested positive for coronavirus.

"10 more COVID-19 positive cases reported in Karnataka, taking the total number of positive cases in the state to 207, including 6 deaths and 30 discharged. 9 of the 10 new cases, are close contacts of people who had tested positive for the virus earlier," said the Karnataka government.

Meanwhile, the State Department of Health and Family Welfare has further notified 14 more COVID-19 dedicated hospitals in the state.

These hospitals include Bagalkot District Hospital, Chamarajanagar Institute of Medical Sciences, District Hospital Chikkaballapur, SNR District Hospital, Kandaya Bhavan Ramanagar, Tumkur District Hospital, Karwar Institute of Medical Sciences Uttara Kannada, Vijayapura District Hospital and Yadgiri District Hospital.

India's total number of coronavirus positive cases rose to 6,412 on Friday.

Out of the total cases, 5,709 are active patients and 503 of them have been cured/discharged, as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

With 30 new deaths reported in the last 12 hours, the toll stands at 199.