Woman, 3 others held in Gurugram fake rape case, extortion bid against husband

Gurugram police arrested Shivani Agarwal for conspiring with lawyer Geetika Chawla to frame her husband in a false rape case for extortion.

A woman who was allegedly involved in framing her husband in a false rape case of a minor boy with the motive of extortion, was arrested late Saturday night, police said.

The woman, identified as Shivani Agarwal, wife of an IT firm owner, is the fourth accused to be held in the case.(Pixabay/Representative)

The woman, identified as Shivani Agarwal, wife of an IT firm owner, is the fourth accused to be held in the case.

Investigators said Agarwal allegedly paid advocate Geetika Chawla ₹10 lakh to frame her husband due to marital disputes. Chawla, along with her husband Harsh Kumar Thakkar and a balloon seller named Hanuman, had been arrested earlier this week for their role in filing the fake rape case registered at Sector 65 police station on October 29.

Senior officers said the case’s investigation exposed a larger extortion racket targeting men facing marital discord. As part of the probe, police will reopen two previous fake rape cases—one filed at the Women’s Police Station (West) in Gurugram in May 2024, and another at Sector 8 police station in Faridabad in June 2024.

“Reinvestigation of the earlier cases is essential to crack down on the entire network run by Chawla and Thakkar,” said DCP (West) Hitesh Yadav. “Concerned officials will be intimated soon about the gang that surfaced during the investigation of the fake rape case of Hanuman’s minor son,” he added.

Yadav said the reinvestigation will help police determine how much money was extorted from falsely accused men and the roles of their wives and other suspects involved in the conspiracy.

He confirmed that police have strong evidence showing Agarwal’s collusion with Chawla.

“The couple was living together in an apartment in Sector 48 but had marital discord. Chawla, who initially represented the husband, later came in contact with the wife and connived with her to register the fake case using Hanuman,” Yadav said, adding that her arrest was imminent.

According to police, 25 SIM cards used by Chawla and Thakkar were issued on forged documents. One of them, provided by Chawla to Hanuman to lodge the fake complaint, was also found to be fake.

Chawla, who completed her law degree from Meerut in 2022 and was practising at Gurugram civil court, was arrested on Thursday along with her husband and Hanuman. During a 16-hour search at their Tata Primanti apartment in Sector 72, police seized ₹1.14 crore in cash, gold ornaments and coins worth ₹2.85 crore, 10 mobile phones, 11 SIM cards, laptops, and multiple passports and Aadhaar cards.

The trio was produced before a court on Friday. The court granted 7-day police remand of Chawla and Thakkar to Gurugram police for detailed interrogation, while Hanuman was remanded for five days.