Delhi: Five arrested over sextortion racket, targeted 40 men

Police said the gang hatched elaborate plays to hoodwink victims and each gang member had specific roles.

The Delhi Police on Tuesday said they have busted a gang of extortionists led by a 42-year-old woman, who was previously convicted in a criminal conspiracy case, and arrested her and four of her associates for allegedly extorting money from men after threatening to frame them in bogus rape cases.

The police arrested Suri and her four associates. (REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)

The alleged accused befriended the victims through an online dating application and lured them to a house, where they drugged the man and clicked his objectionable photographs and videos with women in the gang. Police said the gang hatched elaborate plays to hoodwink victims and each gang member had specific roles.

“We have recovered some police file covers, extorted money and other articles from the arrested persons. The gang members have confessed to extorting valuables from nearly 40 men in the past couple of years. We have recovered a diary containing details of 34 victims and their self written statement admitting guilt and a signed compromise agreement. All of them will be contacted during the probe,” said an investigator, who asked not to be named.

“She lured him to a house and gave a glass of water to drink. He fell unconscious after that and when he came to, the businessman found himself on a bed naked. Six women and three men present there assaulted him and robbed him of ₹15,700, his wristwatch and gold ring. They threatened to kill him if he did not pay them ₹7 lakh,” said deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka) Shankar Choudhary, adding that a case of extortion and threat was registered on the man’s complaint.

During investigation, the police collected information about the gang and learnt that the crime was masterminded by Shivani alias Sonu Suri, who was convicted in a criminal conspiracy case in which she had used a woman to file a bogus rape case against a man.

The police arrested Suri and her four associates, identified as Revti Devi (33) and her husband Vaibhav (37), both residents of Jeewan Park; Sheetal Arora alias Pooja (40), a resident of Burari; and Harbinder Singh (60), a resident of Tagore Garden.

Suri’s interrogation, the DCP said, revealed that she used to get mobile numbers of targets using an online dating application. She used to provide their mobile numbers to Arora, who then invited the targeted person to the residence of Revti. “They extorted money from the victim on the pretext of filing a false rape charge,” said Choudhary.