Hyderabad: A twelve-member gang was held by the Musheerabad police on Monday for honey trapping and extorting money from businessmen in the city.
The gang was arrested with Rs 1.50 lakh cash, two dummy pistols, knives, mobile phones and three motorcycles seized from their possession.
The accused have been identified as Mohd Viquar Mehdi, a dismissed home guard, Ahmed Rizwan, who works with a news website, and two women, Syed Uzma Fathima, a sales girl, Shaik Sameera, a beautician and eight others.
Another gang member Heena, a dancer by profession, is absconding.
The gang identified businessmen and conducted a thorough check of their financial backgrounds before targeting them.
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Women in the gang including Uzma, Heena and Sameera would call the victims over the phone and speak to them for hours.
Musheerabad inspector, Jahangeer Yadav said that the women on the 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 threaten them,” added the inspector.
In this case, the gang had duped 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.
The police officer further said, “Initially the gang demanded huge amounts but would later settle for small amounts.”
One of the victims had even mortgaged his house and paid them the money following their threats.
All the accused have been remanded and sent to prison.
The police have urged the public to approach them in such cases instead of getting into financial trouble by fulfilling their demands.
