Honey trap gang busted in Kullu was active for 15 years
37-year-old woman, who was the kingpin of the seven-member gang that targeted affluent people, was among those arrested last month.
The money trail of the honey trap gang that was busted at Bhunter in Kullu on December 3 shows it had been active for the past 15 years and targeted affluent people in the district to acquire property.
Kullu superintendent of police Gaurav Singh said the members of the gang were already booked in five cases and faced charges of extortion, assault on public servant, house trespass, voluntarily causing hurt, provoking breach of peace, criminal intimidation and wrongful restraint. These cases were registered between 2014 and 2020.
So far, seven members of the gang, including two women, have been arrested.
The women would lure the targets to their houses and get intimate with them before other members would reach posing as their relatives or villagers. “They would create a ruckus and threaten the victim with a rape case and then demand money,” Singh said.
The gang members would often bring the victim to their house on the pretext of selling land, obstruct the way and then enter into a quarrel before threatening to lodge a rape complaint.
LAID TRAP ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Singh said that a 37-year-old woman was the kingpin, the other woman was aged 27. They would forge a friendship with the target on social media and trap them, claiming they were in trouble.
The police found that the gang had trapped one such person who then demanded money from his wife to pay the accused. His wife reported the matter to the police and a case was registered at Bhunter police station that led to the arrest of six members of the gang.
Another case of extortion of ₹1.23 lakh was registered against the accused. The main accused woman, who had taken anticipatory bail from the Himachal Pradesh high court in another case, was also arrested.
HUGE TRANSACTIONS BUT NO SOURCE OF INCOME
The police impounded two cars bought with the extorted money that were registered in the name of the two women.
Singh said that the accused accumulated huge wealth in 15 years despite no known source of income. “The woman kingpin had done transactions of more than ₹25 lakh from her account. She has more than ₹14 lakh balance in her account,” the SP said.
Transactions amounting to ₹11 lakh were done from the joint account of the main accused and a co-accused.
The other woman did transactions of ₹6 lakh and has a balance of ₹1.6 lakh in her account, he said.
