Gang held for honey trapping men, extorting money in Hyderabad

The police seized Rs. 1.50 lakh cash, two dummy pistols, knives, mobile phones and three motorcycles from them

Hyderabad: Twelve members of a gang comprising of two women, a dismissed home guard and a website reporter, who honey trapped men and extorted huge amount of money from them, were arrested by the Musheerabad police on Monday. The police seized Rs. 1.50 lakh cash, two dummy pistols, knives, mobile phones and three motorcycles from them.

The arrested persons include Mohd Viquar Mehdi, a dismissed home guard, Ahmed Rizwan, who works with a news website, Syed Uzma Fathima, a sales girl, Shaik Sameera, a beautician and eight others. One more gang member Heena, who is a dancer, is absconding.

The gang identified businessmen and would conduct a thorough check of their financial background before targeting them. The women in the gang including Uzma Fathima, Heena and Sameera would call the victims over phone and speak to them for long hours.

“The women on pretext of meeting them over lunch or dinner lure the victims to hotels/resorts. When the victim came and met them, the other gang members would click their pictures and threatened them,” said Musheerabad Inspector, Jahangeer Yadav.

The gang had targeted four businessmen Syed Khudmeer from Musheerabad of Rs. 5 lakh, Khaleel Pasha of Musheerabad of Rs. 2.50 lakh, Ibrahim Khan of Rs. 50,000 and Suraj Samantha of Rs. 50,000. “Initially the gang demanded huge amount but would later settle for small amounts,” the Inspector said, adding that one of the victim had mortgaged his house and paid them the money.

All the arrested persons have been remanded and sent to prison. The police appealed to public not to fall prey to such gangs and approach them instead of paying money and landing in financial problems.