Noida: Two women among four held for honey trap extortion

Four people, including two women and two men, were arrested by Surajpur police for running a honey trap racket in Greater Noida. The gang's mastermind would use her minor daughter, niece, and other girls to befriend men online and then extort money from them. The gang had trapped over five people and collected around ₹10 lakh from them in 2023 alone. The suspects have been booked under charges of extortion, assault, and criminal intimidation.

The Surajpur police on Tuesday arrested four people -- two women, two men -- and detained a minor girl for allegedly running a honey trap racket in Greater Noida for the past year.

The four arrested persons in police custody on Tuesday. (HT Photo)

According to police, the gang’s mastermind Kavita Chaudhary, 38, would use her minor daughter, niece, and other girls to befriend unsuspecting men online.

According to Hridesh Katheria, additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP), central Noida, Chaudhary, a native of Meerut, resides in Surajpur, Greater Noida. She involved her minor daughter and niece Pooja Chaudhary (20), resident of Surajpur, in the illegal activity.

The others were identified as Farooq (27), resident of Surajpur, Vishnu alias Damru Srivastava (19), and Kavita’s 17-year-old daughter, who has been sent to a correctional home, the officer said.

Pooja and Kavita’s daughter would leave messages and missed calls on the phones of their targets. When the person responded, the girls would befriend them, and call them to an isolated area in the city.

“Once the men reached there, Kavita, along with Farooq, who posed as a lawyer, and Vishnu, would catch the man and accuse him of raping the girls,” said Katheria, adding if the men did not pay up what they demanded, they would threaten to implicate them in a rape case.

In 2023 alone, the gang had trapped over five people and collected around ₹10 lakh from them, said the ADCP.

The case came to light on Monday late evening when a 40-year-old man (name withheld on request), submitted a complaint at the Surajpur police station against five people alleging extortion, assault and criminal intimidation, said police.

A first information report (FIR) was registered against five people at the Surajpur police station and teams were deployed to nab the suspects.

These suspects were traced using the mobile numbers and other manual surveillance. They were arrested on Tuesday from Surajpur and a lot of material including cash, phones and a car seized from them, the officer said.

The four suspects, who are now in judicial custody, have been booked under charges of extortion, wrongful restraint, criminal intimidation, assault, and intentional insult of the Indian Penal Code.