Sex trade, extortion ring busted, two cops held

Two Delhi Police constables were among five people arrested by the crime branch for running an alleged sex trade and extortion racket in the Capital.

Two Delhi Police constables were among five people arrested by the crime branch for running an alleged sex trade and extortion racket in the Capital.

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The accused, including a woman, were running the racket from a house in northwest Delhi’s Rani Bagh.

Police said the accused first lured victims to their den with the help of their female accomplices, alleged sex-workers, and then conducted fake raids by posing as crime branch officers. Later, they used to extort money from the victims by threatening them that they would be booked for rape.

Delhi Police constables Manoj Kumar and Pawan Kumar were arrested along with one Neeraj Kumar, Vijay Prakash, an ex-home guard, Sunny and Simran (name changed) by a joint team of Crime Branch’s special investigation team (SIT) and anti-extortion cell.

While Pawan was posted with the SIT, Manoj was serving as ‘chitha munshi’ (a clerk) at the Mangolpuri police station.

While Manoj used to ‘raid’ the house in police uniform to threaten the clients, Pawan’s job was to help the accused in destroying ‘evidence’ after he was convinced that he might face dire consequences.

Ravindra Yadav, additional CP (crime and railways), said the arrests came following investigation into an complaint received by the SIT a few days ago.

The complainant alleged that he was lured by a woman and her associates to a house in Rani Bagh.

“He was detained there for several hours and beaten up. He was told that he would be booked raped a woman. The accused cops said they were crime branch officers and demanded R6 lakh to hush up the matter. After negotiations, the accused extorted R3 lakh from the complainant,” said Yadav.

After the complaint, a joint team was formed to bust the prostitution-cum-extortion racket.

The accused were arrested after their involvement was established in the case. During interrogation, it was learnt that Sunny and his wife Sunita were running a brothel in Rani Bagh.

Neeraj Kumar introduced them to Manoj, Vijay and Pawan.

“They formed a gang and planned to extort money from people who used to visit the brothel. They involved a few women in the racket to lure clients and extort money from them,” Yadav said. Police said Sunita is untraceable.