Bangalore: The Bangalore police is on the lookout for a Kannada actress allegedly involved in a conspiracy to seduce rich men and extort money from them.
According to the police, Nayana Krishna, who has acted in several Kannada movies, was assisted in the plan by two news channel employees and as many policemen. They have been identified as K. Hemanth Kumar, a video editor at a leading local news channel; Sunil Kumar, transport coordinator at another Kannada news channel; and police constables Mallesh and Raghu. The five reportedly hired television actresses Rihana and Sonu to set the honeytrap.
Mallesh, Hemanth and Sunil were arrested this week, but Nayana and Raghu have eluded the police so far.
The whereabouts of the TV actresses are not known. The case came to light after an established doctor practicing in the city approached the police claiming he was being blackmailed by the accused. On June 16, the syndicate allegedly sent one of the two TV starlets to the Jayanagar clinic of the 68-yearold physician, where he claims she seduced him and filmed them in the act.
Two days later, he said, he was contacted by the accused and asked to pay `1 crore as hush money, failing which they would air the video on TV channels. Then Mallesh stepped in and promised the doctor he would negotiate with the extortionists to bring down the sum. Eventually, the sum was brought down to `25 lakh, in exchange for which the doctor was promised the video. Last week, he paid `1 lakh to the syndicate, but soon after approached the police.
On the police’s instruction, he invited the accused home to collect the next instalment, which is how Hemanth and Sunil were arrested. They were fired by their employers the same day. Mallesh was arrested the next day, June 20.
“Complaints of extortion have been made against Hemanth and Sunil earlier as well. We expect more victims to come forward to expose this syndicate,” a Bangalore City Crime Branch officer said. Nayana, who is currently in Tamil Nadu, claimed innocence. “I had requested these two guys (Hemanth and Sunil) to help my friend recover Rs.10 lakh she had loaned the doctor. I am busy shooting for a Tamil movie. I will return to Bangalore and clear the air,” the actress told the media over the phone from Tamil Nadu. However, when the police tried to reach her, her phone had been switched off.
