Gang of extortionists that targeted city's rich on Tinder now busted

New Delhi: Delhi Police has arrested five, including three women, in a sensational case of sextortion in the Dwarka district. They have been identified as Sonu Suri, Rewati Devi, Sheetal Arora, Vaibhav, and Harbinder Singh, all residents of Delhi.

According to police, Sonu is the kingpin of this racket and they used to extort money from men under the pretext of getting them arrested in false rape cases. They had opened some fake profiles on the dating app 'Tinder' and conned wealthy men. The gang members used to call their targets to a room and after having an intimate relationship consensually, they used to threaten the target by accusing them of false rape charges, the DCP Dwarka said.

A businessman had complained about the gang on October 21 claiming that a woman named Pooja called him to her house for some wood work, and when he reached the house, she offered water to him, and after having that, he fell unconscious. Later, when he regained consciousness, he found himself on a bed in an objectionable condition, and five to six women and three men, who were standing in the room started beating him. They took his purse containing

Rs 15,700, a wristwatch, gold ring and demanded Rs 7 lakh more and threatened to kill him if he did not agree to their demands, the victim added.

The senior police official further added that the gang members played different roles to catch the targets in their honey trap. Accused Shivani used to search mobile numbers of the targets on Tinder. She used to provide their mobile numbers to another accused Sheetal Arora aka Pooja, who then enticed the targets and invited them to the residence of another accused Revti.

Gang members Harbinder Singh used to play the role of a consultant, Sonu Suri used to play the role of an NGO member, another accused Mukesh and Vaibhav used to play the role of neighbour and family members of the woman who conned the targets. They all collectively extorted money, the police claimed. "Apart from extorted money of Rs 1.78 lakh and some gold rings we have also recovered 34 notes of compromise written by the victims who were trapped by the gang", the DCP also said.