She was pretending to be a lawyer while part of an organised racket that had been honey-trapping influential persons
A 40-year old woman claiming to be a Supreme Court lawyer was arrested on Tuesday afternoon for allegedly trying to extort Rs 7 crore from a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Valsad (Gujarat) KC Patel. After a probe, Delhi Police officials revealed that it was an organized racket run by the woman who claims to be a lawyer and her associates. Influential persons including lawyers and politicians are among her over 10 victims, police sources said.
A Delhi court has sent the woman to five days police custody.
Speaking to the press, Special Commissioner of Police (New Delhi Range) Mukesh Kumar Meena said, "She was arrested under section 384 (Punishment for extortion), 389 (Putting person in fear of accusation of offence, in order to commit extortion), 120B (Criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Investigations are underway and more persons are likely to be arrested."
The woman's lawyer has however maintained that her complaint was not heard and that the police are acting under political pressure.
Last week the woman had alleged that she was raped at the MP's official residence on March 3. She claimed that the MP had invited her for dinner and had raped her several times. Patel also submitted his complaint to the Delhi Police stating that the woman had drugged him and clicked his pictures in objectionable position.
As a result of the complaint, officials from the North Avenue police station reached the residence of the woman in Ghaziabad on Tuesday morning. The woman was brought in for questioning and later arrested. During interrogation, she told cops that she had tried to extort money from politicians, lawyers and other high-profile persons.
"She approached them claiming to be a lawyer and in need of help. Later she would call them to her residence and through hidden cameras and CCTV installed in the house she would video-graph and photograph them in an obscene manner," said a senior police officer. The officer further stated that it is an organized gang, not limited to Delhi but also active in Gurgaon and Muzzafarnagar.
During the court proceedings, Delhi Police stated that they needed to check the number of persons the woman had video-graphed in the CCTV cameras installed in her house. Cops will be visiting the woman's home on Tuesday night to retrieve the footages. The woman also has some mobile clippings and her phone will be sent for forensic examination. Investigating officers said in court that they would also need to check the number of bank accounts the woman has to analyze her transactional details.
Police sources revealed that Patel was not the first politician whom the woman had allegedly tried to blackmail. In December 2016, she tried to extort money from a Congress MP from Haryana from whom she had allegedly taken Rs 1.5 crores to settle the matter. Initially, she had filed a rape case against him at Tilak Marg police station but changed her statement in the court.
... & ANALYSIS
- Cases of women misusing the law to extort money have become a challenge for the cops. In this case police need to identify possible victims trapped by her
- A larger debate and tightening of the law needs to take place to prevent honey-trapping
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Honey-trapped")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}