New Delhi, Jul 3 (IANS): A growing number of cases of gangs luring businessmen into honey traps and then extorting money are being reported in Delhi-NCR. Several active gangs have been busted by the Delhi and Gurugram Police during the nationwide lockdown period.

In a recent case, when a 19-year-old girl came to the Krishna Nagar police station in Shahdara district and lodged a sexual assault case against a local businessman, the cops didn't find any reason to suspect her. They registered the case and apprehended the accused. However, during the course of the investigation, the police got suspicious of the victim as her statements had inconsistencies.

Later, during the investigation, it was revealed that the victim was demanding money from the son of the accused. The police team then started working on different angles, including the possibility of the man being honey trapped, and the girl being a part of a racket. The police questioned the victim about her family and residence. She introduced a woman as her elder sister and provided an address to the police.

"When we inquired further, we got to know that the victim has no siblings. The team got suspicious and the so called sister was interrogated thoroughly. During sustained interrogation, she confessed that the victim is not her sister. She further confessed that she along with two others hatched a criminal conspiracy to trap the businessman of Gandhi Nagar in a sexual harassment case to extort money," said Amit Sharma, DCP Shahdara.

According to the police, as per the plan she introduced herself as Priya to the businessman and another girl introduced herself as the sister of Priya and they both trapped the businessman after exchanging numbers.

"They demanded Rs 20 lakh to settle the case and extorted Rs five lakh in advance to become hostile in the court," the officer said.

Two other associates were also arrested and they both confessed that they registered similar cases against different people in various police stations of Delhi following the same modus operandi.

In a second case in Jagatpuri, a couple was arrested after two complaints of extortion reached the police station.

In one case, the man and a 24-year-old woman entered the office of a businessman and demanded Rs 10,000 per month failing which they threatened to implicate him in a false case of sexual assault. The deal was set at Rs 2,500 per month. But the businessman approached police. The same couple then trapped a share market employee and demanded money from him to settle the case. Both the accused, Prakash Mandal and the woman, have been arrested.

The honey trap racket seems to have spread wide in the NCR. Not just Delhi, similar cases have been reported in adjoining Gurugram also.

In June, two men were arrested from the Gadoli Khurd village in Gurugram's sector 10 for their alleged involvement in honey trapping several real estate agents in the city and Delhi.

The people involved in the racket seem to exploit the victim's fear of loss of reputation. Many do not even approach the police and end up paying extortion amounts to the honey trap gangs.