4 held in Kotkapura honeytrap racket

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, November 16

The police arrested four persons, including two women, on the charge of extorting money from a Kotkapura youth in a honeytrap case on Friday. The gang members had taken Rs 30,000 from the youth and were demanding Rs 3 lakh more.

The Kotkapura police have registered a case under Section 384, 120-B and 506 of the IPC against Rajwinder Kaur (35), Monu (19), Bablu Singh (22) and Jagdev Singh (32). In his complaint to the police, Kotkapura resident Gurmail Singh alleged that Rajwinder invited him to her residence on November 5.

“Shortly after I entered the house, three persons arrived there and locked me in a room. Threatening to frame me in a rape case, they demanded Rs 3 lakh. With the help of a friend, I arranged Rs 30,000 and paid it to them. They let me off after I promised to pay Rs 3 lakh in the next two days, Gurmail alleged.

This is the third extortion racket busted by the police in the past month. Two weeks ago, a woman and her two aides had been arrested for laying a honeytrap for a 30-year-old married man of Qilla Nau village. In Kotkapura last month, two women and their accomplice had extorted Rs 60,000 from a 60-year-old farmer after threatening to frame him in a rape case.

In another case of “sextortion” in Faridkot, Charanpal Singh, a farmer, had ended his life three months ago as he was being blackmailed by a gang.

On the modus operandi of these gangs, the police said women members targeted gullible persons, exchanged mobile numbers and then invited them at their residence. Using CCTV cameras installed in the bedroom, they recorded the goings-on. “Catching the victim in a compromising position, other members of the gang appear on the scene and start blackmailing him with the threat of lodging a rape case or uploading the video clips on social media,” said KC Prashar, SHO Kotkapura.

Most of the victims paid the amount and did not approach the police fearing public disgrace, so these gangs kept operating with impunity, the SHO added.