Five members of ‘sextortion’ gang held in Delhi

PTI, Oct 27, 2021, 10:12 AM IST

New Delhi: The Delhi Police has arrested five members, including three women, of a gang for allegedly extorting money from their targets after filming them in compromising positions, officials said on Tuesday.

The arrests were made in the Dabri area in the southwest part of the city based on a businessman’s complaint lodged on Saturday, police said.

The businessman said he had received a call from a woman regarding the purchase of a plyboard. On Thursday, when he reached Mata Chanan Devi Hospital in Janakpuri, he received a WhatsApp call from her. After five minutes she came on an e-rickshaw and took him to a house. She gave him a glass of water and after drinking it, he became unconscious, a senior police officer said.

After regaining consciousness, he found himself on a bed in a naked condition. Five to six women and three men, who were in the room, started beating him. They took his wallet having Rs 15,700, a wristwatch, a gold ring and demanded Rs 7 lakh more and threatened to kill him, the officer said.

During the investigation, police collected information about the possible whereabouts of the gang members and nabbed them, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Shankar Choudhary said.

Interrogation revealed that one of the accused used to search mobile numbers of targets on online dating applications. She used to provide their mobile numbers to another gang member, who would invite the target to the residence of a woman, also an accused, the DCP said.

One of the gang members would get into a compromising position with the target and the others would barge into the room, police said.

The members would pose as a judge or legal consultant, an NGO member, and a neighbor and family members of the woman who would make sexual relations with the victim. They all extorted money from the victim on the pretext of getting him booked in a false rape case, police said.

The mastermind of the gang was convicted in a rape case and sentenced to seven years of imprisonment in 2013, police added.