Agra man held in Nagpur for honey-trap and blackmail racket using women's complaints

Nagpur: Tehsil police have busted a honey-trap and blackmailing racket run through a social media app and arrested Aditya Sureshchandra Gupta (30), a resident of Agra. Police say Gupta used women's complaints as a weapon to trap people in legal cases and extort large sums from them.

The case began with a complaint from a 19-year-old woman in the Tehsil police station area, a social media influencer. She had complained that Irfan Ali, a resident of Rajasthan, induced her on the Mika dating app to engage in virtual sex. She said Irfan recorded her mobile screen, blackmailed her and demanded money, threatening to defame her. Tehsil police registered a case under charges including molestation, criminal intimidation and the IT Act, and began an investigation.

During the probe, police grew wary of Gupta's activities. Whenever police called the woman to the station for questioning, Gupta came along. When police asked questions, he kept interrupting. When police asked the woman for her mobile phone to establish the truth about the Mika app, Gupta tried to stop her from handing it over. He also flaunted his acquaintance with senior officers and politicians in front of the officials, and told police to record in the documents, as evidence, only the facts he stated.

This deepened police suspicion. Gupta's interference made them suspect something was amiss, and they questioned the woman again after taking her into confidence. According to police, she said she had never met Irfan Ali and had not spoken to him on the Mika app. It was Gupta who had told her about Irfan. Gupta had assured her that he wanted to stop the exploitation of women on the Mika app and help victims get justice. He asked her to file a complaint against Irfan and promised her Rs 5 lakh for doing so. She created an account on the Mika app only after filing the complaint at Tehsil police station. Police swung into action after she told the truth.

Police questioned Irfan Ali, who said Gupta was demanding a ransom of Rs 3 crore to save him from the case. Irfan also said Gupta had earlier had a role in getting a false rape case filed against him in Pune. In that case, Gupta had demanded money by posing as the brother of the complainant. Irfan is a businessman and Gupta has been blackmailing him for a long time. After these disclosures, police arrested Gupta. The investigation now extends to whether the complaint, the false molestation case and the demand of crores were part of a planned blackmailing network.

Gupta's brother has also filed a cheating case against him in Agra. The investigation has found that Gupta was in contact with some people with criminal tendencies in Nagpur. Police are now examining other members of the network, the people targeted and the money transactions, and have appealed to victims to come forward and file complaints.

The action was taken under the guidance of Rahul Madne, DCP, Zone 3, by PI Sanjay Mendhe, PSI Sandeep Bhitale and constables Dhanraj Singuwar, Nitin Mishra, Vinod Gawai, Sachin Ashwar, Pankaj Marsinge, Irfan Pathan and Mahendra Selukar.