Four women among 12 arrested for extortion, setting up honey trap in Amritsar

Maqboolpura police have arrested 12 persons including four women for allegedly honey-trapping victims and extorting huge amounts from them. Those arrested include a fake ASI. The police have recovered fake identity cards of an ASI, an Anti-Corruption Morcha organisation and kisan unions from their possession.

Those arrested were identified as Sukhchain Singh and Manjit Singh of Batala, Rajbir Singh alias Raja of Mehta Road, Maqboolpura, Amanjit Kaur and Manjit Kaur of Maqboolpura, Sonu of Jamsher Khas, Jalandhar, Maninderjit Singh of Sultanwind, Sohan Singh of Tahlia village, Mansa, Satbir Singh alias Ranjha of Beejapur, Gharinda, Baljit Singh of Ranjit Enclave, Jalandhar, Magad Lila (woman) of Sansarpur, Jalandhar and Pushpinder Kaur of Mukerian, Hoshiarpur.

The police recovered Rs 36,000 in cash, three cars, fake IDs and 12 mobile phones from them.

Sharing details, Jasroop Kaur Bath, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP), revealed that Jaspal Singh alias Jani Singh of Madi Buchia village, Sri Hargobindpur (Batala), now residing in Tanda in Hoshiarpur, approached the police while alleging that several persons had extorted money after detaining and blackmailing him. One of them posed as a cop and had threatened to lodge a false FIR against him.

In his complaint to the police, he stated that around 12 days ago, he got a call from a woman to help her in a case. He said the woman remained in contact with him and called him near Nexus Shopping Mall. He said that on June 6, he reached there where a woman accompanied by a man met him. They took him to a house near Josan Hospital in Maqboolpura.

He said he was made to sit in a room and the woman who called her bolted the door from inside. He said he raised objections and came out after opening the doors. He said as he came out, three more women and four men came there and detained him in the room. He said one of the accused was wearing a police uniform and identified himself as ASI Sukhchain Singh. He alleged that the accused thrashed him and forcibly removed his clothes. He said the woman (who called him to Amritsar) also removed her clothes.

He alleged that one of the accused made their nude videos and threatened to lodge an FIR and make the video viral by uploading it on various social platforms. They demanded a huge amount to leave him and the matter was settled at Rs 4 lakh. He said the man in police uniform took out Rs 18,000 in cash from his purse and forced him to transfer another Rs 45,000 into a bank account.

He alleged that the accused then took a written confession forcibly to hand over the remaining amount of Rs 3.55 lakh on June 8. They returned his car keys and mobile phone while keeping the purse and other documents, including ATM cards with them.

He said on June 8, when he came to hand over the remaining amount, he got suspicious of them. He slipped away and later got their backgrounds checked. He found out that the ASI was fake. He then lodged a complaint with the police.

ADCP Bath said that a preliminary probe revealed that all the accused had formed a gang to blackmail their targets and extort money from them after making their nude videos with the woman members of the gang.

She said the accused were brought on police remand for further investigations.