The manager of a cafe on Elgin Road has been arrested for allegedly being part of a racket that engaged women to open fake accounts on dating apps, lure men to the cafe where they would be forced to pay inflated bills that would run into tens of thousands of rupees, police said.

Kolkata Police’s cyber police station arrested the manager, Ranapati Paswan, a resident of 14/G Lindsey Street, for allegedly having direct complicity with the offence, police said.

Earlier on Friday, a woman named Mariyam Khatoon was arrested from Baruipur in South 24-Parganas based on a complaint filed by a victim from Hooghly.

Pursuing the woman’s statement, the police raided the cafe on Elgin Road.

“The modus operandi of this cafe was to hire some women who were taught to create fake profiles on dating apps,” said a police officer.

Thereafter, these women used to lure prospective victims and fix up meetings at the cafe.

“The women would leave once their target reached the cafe,” the officer added.

Soon, inflated bills would allegedly be created, and the victim would be forced to pay. Sometimes, the victims would be threatened with dire consequences if they refused to pay, the police said.

“Investigation revealed that the owner and manager of the cafe used to train the women in communication skills, creating accounts and profiles on dating apps, and identifying gullible customers. The women would create fake profiles on various dating apps and lure victims to that cafe. If anyone protested, the inflated amount would be forcibly extracted,” said a Kolkata Police officer.