New Delhi:

Three people have been arrested in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad for allegedly using a gay dating app to lure people into sexual activity, filming the act and then blackmailing them for money. Rinku, Ajay and Shubham have been arrested and two accused are on the run.

According to police, they received a complaint in which a man said he connected with someone on Grindr, a gay dating app, and went to meet him at a flat. During their meeting, the two started getting intimate. Some other people, who were present in the flat, filmed them in the act. They then blackmailed the complainant and forced him to transfer Rs 1.40 lakh into an account. The victim later approached the police and registered a complaint.

Swatantra Kumar Singh, Assistant Police Commissioner, said they filed a case based on the complaint and started tracking the accused. “We received information that the accused would be near NDRF road today. We set up a checkpost and arrested the accused. Rinku is the mastermind of the gang. The other accused are Shubham and Ajay. Ajay had connected with the complainant and lured him to the flat. Two people are on the run and they will be arrested soon.”

The senior police officer said they had seized three identity cards from Rinku describing him as an advocate. “We are investigating if they are fake,” he said. Police have also seized three mobile phones and Rs 10,000 in cash.

Asked if the gang had targeted other people in the past, the officer said, “The owner of the rented flat told us that the accused moved in on January 2. They have admitted that they blackmailed some others too. We are investigating this.” 

Amid a surge in blackmail cases using dating platforms, the officer had a word of caution for the public. “If you are not careful in the virtual world, someone can hide their identity and target you like this. If you are talking to someone and becoming friends online, you must be cautious before trusting them,” he said.

A Wisconsin priest who lost his job after being outed for using Grindr is suing the queer dating app, alleging that his data was sold without his knowledge or consent.

Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, who served as the top administrator of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) until his resignation in 2021, claims that Grindr failed to inform him that his data was being sold to vendors, thereby allowing people outside the app to discover his presence on it.

Burrill’s lawsuit, obtained by the Washington Post, states that the release of his data caused “significant damage” to his reputation, particularly given his vow of celibacy as a priest and the Catholic Church’s long-standing stance against homosexual acts.

Burrill was forced to resign from his position after the Christian news website “The Pillar” published a story exposing his visits to gay bars and use of the dating app, reporting that it had tracked and verified his behaviour using online data.

In his lawsuit, Burrill alleges that The Pillar obtained the data from Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal (CLCR), a Christian non-profit organization that purchased data from queer dating apps to identify Church leaders using them in violation of their vows, implying that Grindr had sold the data to the organization.

“We want answers so we can use that as a warning to other Grindr users,” said Gregory Helmer, an attorney for Burrill.

The priest said he’d never have joined the app had he known his data would be available to the public, according to the lawsuit.

“To have that decision forced out of your hands and into the public realm is reprehensible,” James Carr, another attorney representing Burrill, told the Washington Post.

Burrill, who is still “getting on his feet” following the “shame and embarrassment” of his outing, according to his lawyer Helmer, requested $5 million in damages from Grindr in June.

After Grindr declined his request, Burrill filed a lawsuit on July 18, seeking damages and the implementation of policies to prevent user data from being publicly available without users’ knowledge.

Grindr told the Washington Post it would “respond vigorously to these allegations, which are based on mischaracterizations of practices relating to user data,” and previously denied making user data publicly available.

CLCR admitted to obtaining data from Grindr in the past to expose clergy members but claimed it did not provide any data to The Pillar.

Burrill’s ousting sparked widespread criticism, with many condemning The Pillar’s use of data as dangerously homophobic.