Delhi: 3 Arrested As Man Complains He Was 'Honey-Trapped, Extorted', Cops Looking For Woman Member Of Gang

Arrests were made on the basis of a complaint lodged by a 55-year-old man who said a woman befriended him on social media and invited him to her Pashchim Vihar flat where he was trapped and extorted.

New Delhi: The Delhi Police has arrested three persons who allegedly honey-trapped a man by posing as policemen. All three are residents of Haryana, news agency PTI reported. The arrested accused are Pawan (37), Manjeet (33) and Deepak (29), while the woman member of the gang, Honey Preet, is absconding, the report said, quoting the police.

The arrests were made on the basis of a complaint lodged by the man who was allegedly honeytrapped. On May 1, the 55-year-old man complained that the woman, Honey Preet, befriended him on social media and invited him over to her flat in Delhi's Paschim Vihar, the PTI report said.

As the two spent time together, the three men entered the house posing as policemen and allegedly extorted Rs 1.5 lakh from him, threatening to book him in a case if he did not pay, an officer was quoted as saying.

Based on the complaint, a police team raided the flat and the building owner told them the three men had been living there on rent and Preet would visit them. They had, however, vacated the flat after the complaint was lodged, the report said.

The rent agreement for the flat had Pawan's signatures, the police said, adding that the victim identified the accused through a photograph.

After the police learnt that the three men would come to the flat on June 1 to collect some of their belongings, a team nabbed them near the fire station at Paschim Vihar's Jwala Hedi Market , Deputy Commissioner of Police (outer) Sameer Sharma was quoted as saying in the PTI report.

Interrogation revealed that Pawan was the mastermind, and he had met Neeraj, who was previously involved in cases of honey-trapping, in Bahadurgarh, the police said, adding that they became friends with Honey Preet on social media and formed a gang.

As per their plan, they took the flat on rent, and the woman created a fake social media profile in the name of Ritu Bansal and started to befriend "wealthy-looking men", the report said. 

According to the police, she persuaded the complaint to come to the flat after developing proximity with him via video calls.

When the two were in the house, Manjeet allegedly barged in posing as a "sub-inspector", with Pawan and Deepak pretending to be his juniors, the police were quoted as saying.

Manjeet also had a previous crime record as he was previously named in a case under the Arms Act.

Efforts are on to trace Honey Preet, the police said.