The accused would persuade the victims to strip during video calls and use the clips and images to blackmail them later, Aggarwal said (ANI photo) GHAZIABAD: A gang that allegedly extorted businessmen and senior executives after blackmailing them with images and videos of sex chats has been busted with the arrest of five members from a flat in Raj Nagar Extension.
The gang, police said, targeted around 200 people in the past two years and extorted Rs 22 crore from them.It was being run by a couple, who had hired three women for a monthly salary of Rs 25,000 and a share of the money they made.
The veil was lifted off the gang after a police team from Rajkot visited Ghaziabad in connection with a case of fraud and honeytrap.
A couple of weeks ago, a businessman from Rajkot had complained about a chartered accountant in his firm, Tushar, and alleged that he had siphoned off Rs 80 lakh from the company’s account.
The police learnt that Tushar had used the money to pay a gang that had targeted him with images of sex video chats.The account in which Tushar had deposited the money brought the Rajkot cops to Ghaziabad.
Explaining the modus operandi, SP (city 1) Nipurn Aggarwal said the five gang members would open accounts on various social media platforms and send friend requests to men.After a few days of casual chats, they would share their WhatsApp numbers with the targets and ask them to make video calls.When they did, the accused would honeytrap them and persuade them to strip.
Screenshots and videos of the sex chats would be made and later used to blackmail the victims.
Sources said many of the victims were businessmen and senior officials of private firms.Most of them would give in to the demands of the gang and refrain from going to the police, fearing social stigma.
This worked for the gang, which continued to target men for two years and made crores.
The couple — Yogesh Gautam and his wife Sapna — that ran the gang had taken a flat on rent in Officer City.They had hired three young women for a monthly salary and a commission.On Friday, they were all arrested from the flat.
“Since the rate is quite high for chatting on adult sites, the accused would share their WhatsApp numbers.They would persuade the victims to strip during video calls and use the clips and images to blackmail them later,” Aggarwal said.
Circle officer (Indirapuram) Abhay Mishra said it was a man from Australia who had given the couple the idea to honeytrap people and extort them with images of sex chats.The man, Sunny, was a friend of the couple on social media.
“Eight bank accounts have come to the fore during investigation.Of these, we have details of only four accounts.Transactions worth Rs 4 crore were done using the four accounts that we have traced so far.
We are collecting information about the others,” Mishra said.
The couple and the three women have been booked under IPC sections 292 (sale, etc., of obscene books, items etc.), 384 (extortion), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) and relevant provisions of the IT Act.They were produced in front of a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.
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