Representative image

CHENNAI: A four-member gang was nabbed in Saligramam on Sunday night after inviting a man to a lodge and taking nude pictures of him in a bid to extort money. Based on a tip-off, a police team raided the lodge and arrested the gang.

Police said A Manthiramoorthy, 24, from Tuticorin, befriended a 30-year-old man on a website for the LGBT community a few weeks ago. They agreed to meet on Sunday at a lodge in Saligramam where Manthiramoorthy had booked a room.

The two men spoke for a while before Manthiramoorthy asked him to undress, said an investigating officer. Three other men subsequently entered the room and tied him up. “They took pictures of him and threatened to circulate them on social media. The gang demanded Rs 40,000 to set him free and delete the pictures,” added the officer.

Police said they had already received inputs that some men were targeting members of the LGBT community to extort money from them.

“The gang received an alert that we had entered the lodge,” said a police officer. “They tried to silence the man by gagging his mouth but he raised an alarm before they could do so,” he added. Police then zeroed in on the room and broke into it.

The three other members of the gang were identified as J Ilayaraja, 30, of Madurai , M Mariappan, 25, of Tuticorin, and S Muthuramalingam, 26, of Tirunelveli .

Police said Muthuramalingam was the mastermind and had confessed to being involved in more than ten such cases across the city. “So far, no official complaints have been made, but we will probe the case after taking the suspects into police custody,” said a police officer.

The gang’s modus operandi was to join LGBT groups online and identify potential targets before arranging for a meeting. Manthiramoorthy was assigned to befriend the victims while the others would arrive later and extort money from them.

Police have seized pictures and videos of more than ten men from the gang which used the same lodge for all the meetings.

The four men have been remanded in judicial custody.

