Sextortion racket busted in Delhi’s Paschim Vihar

Gang members used to act as cops for raiding the place during the sex-act

New Delhi, Dec. 5 (Delhi Crown): With the arrest of one person, the Delhi Police on Sunday claimed to have busted a sextortion racket, wherein the accused to befriend people on social media and then lure them into sexual activities and finally export money.

According to the police, the gang-members had committed over a dozen sextortion cases in the past one-and-a-half years, extorting Rs. 5-10 lakhs from each victim.

Kingpin of the racket, identified as Neeraj who is a resident of Bahadurgarh in Haryana, was apprehended by the Delhi Police from PVR Cinema, Sector-14, Prashant Vihar, Rohini, confirmed Addl. CP (Crime) Dheeraj Kumar on Sunday.

One mobile phone, four Sim cards, one debit card, one Scooty and one hand-written script used to blackmail the targets were also recovered from Neeraj’s possession.

Search is on to nab the rest of the gang-members.

According to Addl. CP Dheeraj Kumar, a case of extortion was registered at Paschim Vihar East Police Station on Nov. 29, wherein it was reported by the victim that Rs. 3 lakhs had been extorted from him by entrapping him in a honey trap.

The victim had paid Rs. 1.5 lakhs in cash and another Rs. 1.5 lakhs via bank account transfer to the accused persons.

“Such incidents are quite rampant these days and extortionists keep targeting vulnerable people. The victims seldom come forward to complain as they fear social stigma,” said Addl CP Dheeraj Kumar.

A team led by Inspector Vijay Samaria, comprising of Sub-Inspectors Sitaram and Manish, ASI Surender Dahiya, ASI Lal Singh, Head Constables Dinesh Rana and Neeraj, Constable Satya Parkash and Constable Ajay was constituted under the leadership of ACP (Crime Branch) Arvind Kumar to look into the matter.

It was established during investigation by the team that the accused persons had rented out a flat in Paschim Vihar area to run their illegal activities. The flat was identified and the landlord was examined. Some sketchy details about the tenants were obtained. Based upon initial leads, further efforts were undertaken.

On the basis of physical verification and technical surveillance, the gang was identified and kingpin of the gang was identified as Neeraj of Bahadurgarh, Haryana.

A trap was laid and on Dec. 3 and Neeraj was apprehended. He admitted that he along with other gang members, including a lady, extorted innocent people by honey trapping them.

The accused is said to be having a criminal past and has two cases of Arms Act registered against him in Haryana.

He and 5 gang members, including two girls, decided to honey trap victims and extort money from them.

The gang began its activities just before the first lockdown. The accused used to create a Facebook profile in the name of girl and sent ‘friend requests’ to their targets. After confirmation of the request, they chatted with their victims, through Facebook messenger, pretending to be a girl.

Once they obtained the mobile phone number of the victim, they sent obscene content to lure him. The lady members of the gang made video call to further entice the victim.

The gang extracted complete details from the target to assess his paying capacity. Once they were convinced about the financial background of the target, the lady member of the gang would invite the victim to a pre-decided place and indulge in sexual activity.

Now hooked, when the victim arrived for the second rendezvous, the other members of the gang barged into the room posing as policemen. The victim was led to believe that the police have raided the place. The gang members posing as ‘policemen’ threatened the victim of exposure and extorted money from him.

Efforts are being made to trace other victims and to arrest the remaining gang members. Concerned police station has been informed accordingly. Further investigation is in progress.