Police bust extortion gang that secretly recorded videos of couples in hotels

Noida: Gautam Budh Nagar police on Thursday arrested two people for illegally recording a couple on video in a Noida hotel room and blackmailing them for money

Noida: Gautam Budh Nagar police on Thursday arrested two people for illegally recording a couple on video in a Noida hotel room and blackmailing them for money. During the course of this investigation, cops also unearthed an illegal call centre operation involved in defrauding people.

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According to SM Khan, additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP) (Central Noida), a man filed a complaint with the police alleging that he was being blackmailed by unidentified people following which an FIR was registered at Phase-3 police station under sections of extortion, cheating and criminal intimidation on Wednesday.

“The complainant visited a hotel under the Phase-3 police station jurisdiction last month with a female friend. After returning from the hotel, he received a video of him and his friend in the hotel room on WhatsApp and his social media account. The sender asked the complainant to pay ₹50,000, failing which he threatened to post the video online and send it to the complainant’s family,” he said. The suspects, identified as Vishnu Singh, a resident of Ghadi Chaukhani village in Noida, and Abdul Wahab, a resident of Khoda village in Ghaziabad, were apprehended following a police inquiry.

“The suspects confessed to having installed hidden cameras in the hotel room they booked earlier. The hotel operators were unaware of this, and the suspects booked the same room again after the couple left to retrieve the cameras and footage,” Khan added.

The suspects used sim cards and bank accounts registered in someone else’s name to get the extortion money. “According to the suspects, a man identified as Pankaj Kumar provided them with the sim cards and bank account details. Cops apprehended Kumar from his residence in Chijjarsi village in Noida,” the ADCP informed.

Kumar told the police that a man named Anurag Kumar Singh from Ghaziabad obtained similar illegal sim cards in bulk from him. “Investigation found that Anurag was running three illegal call centres where he employed 10-11 people. He put out advertisements on Olx to sell new iPhones at cheaper rates, asking interested customers to call the numbers provided. When people called the numbers, they were asked to transfer money to their accounts. However, the victims were never sent the promised products,” Khan said. The bank accounts were used for transactions of over ₹1 lakh every day and the suspects duped hundreds of people. Police also apprehended Singh from Ghadi Chaukhani village in Noida.

“All four suspects have been booked under charges of cheating and forgery. They were sent to judicial custody after being produced before a magistrate,” the ADCP added.