Honey trap gang busted in Gurugram, five held

Police said the gang had extorted more than ₹1.5 crore from more than three dozen men, including a recent case of a 62-year-old retired government official from whom they extorted ₹3 lakh, and were demanding more.

The police on Sunday busted a gang of extortionists who used to honeytrap rich men, mostly senior citizens and made “objectionable videos” to extort them.

Members of the gang would allegedly threaten the victims that they would file fake cases of rape against them. (Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Five of the six-member gang were arrested from Sector 5 and the sixth suspect is at large, the police said.

Members of the gang would allegedly threaten the victims that they would file fake cases of rape against them, the police said.

The police said it is a six-member gang, including three women, who used to “trap” men from affluent families in Gurugram and Delhi-NCR. They had used different techniques to extort the victims.

Police said the gang had extorted more than ₹1.5 crore from more than three dozen men, including a recent case of a 62-year-old retired government official from whom they extorted ₹3 lakh, and were demanding more.

Muhammad Akil, commissioner of police, said the victims included retired government officials, industrialists, hoteliers, MNC executives, and real estate developers. “All the victims paid the extortion amount out of fear of their identities being exposed. We have received several complaints and more are awaited. We have assured the victims their identities will be kept a secret,” he said.

The suspects had rented a house in Ashok Vihar Phase 2 where four of them had been living for the past year, the police said.

Akil said Rohit, the kingpin of the gang, used to provide the victims’ cellphone numbers to gang members, and the female members would call them on the pretext of getting a job, or to befriend with them.

“We received a complaint from a retired government official who was thinking of taking his life. He met one of the women from the gang, and she offered he go to her house in Sector 9. They had been speaking to each other and had become friendly. After the victim reached the given address, the accused said she will return in five minutes from another room. Another woman from the gang offered him water, which was laced with sedatives, which he drank, and fell unconscious,” he said.

The victim, when he woke up, found himself naked on the bed with a woman, police said.

“The woman called her accomplice to the room, and told the victim that he had been intimate with her and her friends had filmed them. The two also said multiple cameras were fitted in the room. The victims asked them to delete the video, upon which they demanded ₹3 lakh,” Akil said.

A few days later, the victim received a clip of the film and received a further demand of ₹2.5 lakh. The victim got scared and confided in one of his friends, the police said.

“The victim had already paid the demanded money, but their demands only increased. He narrated his ordeal to me,” Akil added.

“The victim took ₹1 lakh, instead the discussed ₹2.5 lakh, and met gang members at the Sector 5 crossing. He promised to hand them the rest of the money later. He then gave the money to the mastermind and left. The Shivaji Nagar police, who was deployed in civil dress caught Rohit and Prince. Their interrogation led to the arrest of the women nearby,” Akil said.

The police said apart from extorting cash, gang members also forced victims to take them out shopping.

“We have also recovered the mobile phone which was used to record the video and the car from their possession,” said Akil.

A case under sections 387 (Putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion) and 384 (extortion) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at Shivaji Nagar police station on Saturday.