The Navghar police have busted a racket and arrested four members of the gang who used women as bait to lure and extort money from well-heeled victims by staging police raids in Bhayandar.
The action followed in response to a complaint filed by a Palghar-based businessman who was lured to an apartment in the Shirdi Nagar area of Bhayandar.
The woman escorted her to the bedroom and forced him into a compromising position. Within a few minutes, the male members of the racket in the guise of cops barged inside and threatened the target with arrest for operating a sex racket. The trio demanded Rs. 5 lakh from the complainant to hush up the matter.
After negotiations, the amount was scaled down to Rs. 2 lakh. The complainant panicked and paid up Rs. 45,000. He was then taken to an ATM kiosk where another Rs. 25,000 was withdrawn from his account.
The complainant was allowed to go, but with threats that if he did not pay the remaining amount, he will be arrested in the prostitution case. On Friday, the complainant received a call from the fake cop who asked him to meet him in Kashimira.
The terrified complainant informed Senior Police Inspector- Milind Desai about the incident. Desai immediately swung into action and laid a trap near Hotel Weston and caught a duo-Vijay Tukaram Patil (56) and Ayub Rehman Khan (45) while accepting money from the complainant. Investigations led to the arrest of the 35-year-old woman and another accomplice Sudarshan Khandare (32). The kingpin of the gang turned out to be Ayub Khan who is a former police informer and has been arrested for similar crimes in the past.
The police suspect the gang might have duped several men using this modus operandi. The quartet has been booked for cheating, impersonation, criminal conspiracy and other sections of the IPC. Further investigations were underway.
