Honey trap gang on the prowl; member in police net

Members of such gangs often file false cases of rape and crimes under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, against their victims and blackmail them to pay up to get the complaints withdrawn, police officials said

After seven months of investigation in a case, and the death of the complainant, an ayurveda practitioner, earlier this year, police have exposed a gang run by women who honey trapped and extorted doctors, army personnel and government servants in the Bareilly region, police officials said on Friday.

After her arrest on Thursday, Himani, 22, told police that she was a member of a well-organised honeytrap and extortion gang that is operated by a middle-aged woman whom she called ‘mausi’

The investigation picked up pace after the death of the ayurveda practitioner, who himself was a victim of the gang.

Last August, the Allahabad high court had directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe allegations of honey trap gangs operating in Prayagraj and its adjoining districts. Members of such gangs often file false cases of rape and crimes under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, against their victims and blackmail them to pay up to get the complaints withdrawn, the officials said. As many as 51 such cases were listed before the court then. Besides, a similar case involving a lawyer emerged in Lucknow in 2020.

In the practitioner’s case, Bareilly senior superintendent of Police (SSP) Prabhakar Chowdhary confirmed that a woman identified as Himani Sharma (22), who hails from Badaun, had been arrested in connection with an FIR lodged with Subash Nagar police in the city on December 4, 2022. He said more arrests were likely in the matter as further investigation was underway.

Another senior police official said based on a complaint by AS Chauhan, the ayurveda practitioner, against one Priya Gangwar, her boss and two men, a case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 420 (fraud), 342 (wrongful confinement), 384 (extortion), 504 (insult), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).

Chauhan’s family alleged that he was under intense amount of mental stress as he was being blackmailed by the honey trap gang, which, eventually, caused his death.

“During the investigation, police found out that the woman who called herself Priya Gangwar was, in fact, Himani Sharma. After her arrest on Thursday, she made startling revelations, which includes that she is a member of a well-organised honeytrap and extortion gang that is operated by a middle-aged woman whom she calls ‘Mausi’. There are many more girls and women, as well as some men, in the gang.”

On further probe, police found out that Mausi’s real moniker is Madhu. Madhu, with the help of just Himani, extorted over ₹9 lakh from seven persons—the ayurveda practitioner, an MBBS doctor, two army personnel, a government department clerk, a contractor and a businessman in the past three years.

“It is suspected that there are over two dozen similar cases of extortion committed by the gang. We are making further efforts to trace the gang leader and its other members,” the senior police official added.

In another case, a woman had lodged a rape complaint against a young lawyer, Ayush Tiwari, at Sushant Golf City police station of Lucknow in 2020 after which the lawyer was arrested and sent to jail, said the police officials. They added the woman later compromised in the case after getting ₹5 lakh from the accused and the case was closed.

The lawyer approached the police in March 2023 when the same woman again started demanding money and threatened to frame him in another rape case.