No Arrests In Bhubaneswar’s Tinder Love-Hate Story So Far: Police

Bhubaneswar: The Commissionerate Police on Sunday refuted media reports that five persons had been arrested in connection with an alleged date rape and blackmailing case in Bhubaneswar.

Speaking to Odisha Bytes, DCP Bhubaneswar Anup Sahoo said that the victim has been sent for medical examination and since she had alleged rape, her statement will soon be recoded by a magistrate. No one has been arrested in connection with the case so far, he added.

A DGM of a private bank and a woman college teacher, who had befriended each other on mobile dating app Tinder a week ago, had lodged separate complaints at Chandrasekharpur police station on January 10. While the woman had alleged rape, the banker had accused her of kidnapping, blackmailing and cheating.

It all began with a ‘match’ on Tinder between the banker and the teacher on January 2. The two then exchanged mobile numbers the very same day.

The incident took an ugly turn after the youth alleged that the woman’s associates had kidnapped and harassed him. “After exchanging contact numbers on Tinder on January 2, we decided to meet the next day. She came to my room and we consumed liquor and had sexual intercourse. We clicked photos and made videos of our intimate moments on my mobile phone with mutual consent. Later on January 8, she called and requested me to take her to a hospital saying that she was undergoing severe headache,” he said.

“While I was taking her to the hospital on my motorcycle, her two associates intercepted the vehicle, thrashed me and forcibly took me to a house, where I was held captive for a day. They took away money and debit/credit cards from my possession, and also demanded Rs 5 lakh,” he added.

On the other hand, the woman accused the youth of “harassing” her besides taking her photos and recording her videos “without her consent” while she was “unconscious”. Refuting the allegation of abduction, she said, “I had sought help of a person for deleting the photos and videos from his mobile phone.”