Three women who trapped online callers through obscene videos, arrested for extortion in Ghaziabad

While the two kingpins of the gang, identified as Akash Kumar and Renu, are still at large, the three arrested women - Kajal Kumar (25), Megha Yadav (19) and Shivani Prakash (19) were crucial to the operation, the police said

The Ghaziabad police on Saturday arrested three women from Vijay Nagar for extorting people using compromising videos they recorded on an online messaging platform. With this, the police said they had halted a widespread racket that targeted a host of people over the past six months.

Ghaziabad, India - September 17, 2022: Ghaziabad Police arrested three women in connection to extortion via fraudulent mobile application, in Ghaziabad, India, on Saturday, September 17, 2022. (Photo by Sakib Ali /Hindustan Times)

While the two kingpins of the gang, identified as Akash Kumar and Renu, are still at large, the three arrested women - Kajal Kumar (25), Megha Yadav (19) and Shivani Prakash (19) were crucial to the operation, the police said.

The suspects operated the extortion racket from a beauty parlour in Vijay Nagar’s Sector 12 market.

“The three women used to make calls to people registered on the chat platform and would become friendly with them over time. Then, they used to obtain their customer’s mobile numbers and recorded videos of compromising conversations and [sexual] acts over the online platform. A raid was conducted and three women were arrested. We also cracked down a bank account into which ₹13 lakh was transferred from different sources,” said Nipun Agarwal, superintendent of police (city 1).

The raid was conducted on the basis of information by an informer, the police said.

“The women said that they were paid commissions from the extorted money, and the major share would go to the prime suspects, Akash and Renu. These two arranged cameras, smartphones and laptops [for the women] that were used. These were seized, and our teams are trying to trace the two prime suspects,” Agarwal added.

The police registered a suo motu FIR at Vijay Nagar police station and booked the three women under the Indian Penal Code’s sections for extortion, for receiving profits from obscene acts, criminal breach of trust, cheating and also levied sections of the Information Technology Act.

The police said that the three women have studied till Class 12 and joined the gang as they faced “financial issues at home.” All three are from Ghaziabad.

The police also recovered several fake Aadhaar cards from the suspects. The police said that these cards were used to open bank accounts, where the extorted money was transferred.