Abohar: Man held hostage by honeytrap gang rescued, 5 land in police net

Abohar, April 3

In the first joint operation conducted after the inter-state meeting of senior police officials of Punjab and Rajasthan at Sriganganagar, the police of the two states swiftly coordinated to get a middle-aged man rescued, who was held hostage near Mamdot in Ferozepur by a honey trap gang.

The gang members had allegedly demanded a ransom of Rs 4 lakh in exchange for his release.

The police rescued the victim, Phusa Ram (48) of Jalalsar village in Rajasthan, near Mamdot and later nabbed all five gang members — Chuni Lal, Bhupinder Singh, Baldev Singh, Paramjit Singh and Narinder Kaur. A Rajasthan Police official said the suspects would be questioned regarding their crime history during the remand.

The victim’s brother, Lalu Ram, said Phusa had left home on March 27 and did not return in the evening. The next morning, Phusa informed them via call that he had come to Punjab on an invitation to find a suitable bride for Lalu. However, around three to four people kidnapped him and held him hostage. Phusa told him that they had created his fake, obscene video with a woman, and were demanding Rs 4 lakh to hush up the matter.

Lalu said later, one of the suspects called him up and demanded money, saying if he wanted to see him alive, he would have to give the said amount. He also gave Lalu an account number, asking him to transfer the money.

Lalu told the police that the caller had sent a photo copy of the bank passbook of the said account via WhatsApp of one of his acquaintances, Arshad Shah. The bank account was in the name of Baldev Singh. He tried to transfer the amount, but failed.

He then informed the local police, following which the Rajasthan Police immediately contacted the Ferozepur district police, which verified their location and rescued Phusa.