The Delhi Police Crime Branch on Friday arrested the kingpin of a sextortion racket being operated out of Paschim Vihar. The main accused and his accomplices used to lure victims of several lakhs of money by indulging in sexual activities.
According to Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Dheeraj Kumar, a case of extortion was lodged at the Paschim Vihar East police station, wherein the complainant alleged that ₹3 lakh had been extorted from him after being honey trapped. “He had paid ₹1.5 lakh in cash and another ₹1.5 lakh through bank account transfer to the accused persons,” Mr. Kumar said.
During the probe, it was established that the accused persons had taken a flat on rent in Paschim Vihar to run the extortion racket. The police had identified the flat and the landlord was examined, the ACP said.
Subsequently, the gang and its kingpin was identified as Neeraj of Bahadurgarh in Haryana. A trap was laid and Neeraj was arrested near Prashant Vihar in Rohini, the police said.
During interrogation, Neeraj allegedly disclosed that he and his five other gang members, including two women, hatched a plan to honey trap victims and extort money from them. The gang allegedly committed sextortion of more than a dozen victims in the past one-and-a-half years and have extorted ₹5 to ₹10 lakh from each victim, based on his financial background, the police said.
They used to create fake girl profiles on Facebook and send friend requests to their targets, following which they used to chat with their victims and later send obscene photos on their personal mobile numbers.
After further enticing the victims with video calls with women, they used to invite them to a pre-decided place to indulge in sexual activities, during which the other members used to barge into the room posing as policemen and threaten the victim of consequences in exchange of money. The other members are currently on the run, the police said.
