An interstate ‘rape’ racket involving two women from Gujarat has been busted by Goa police, leading to the arrest of the two along with their male accomplices.
According to their modus operandi, the two threatened to lodge false rape complaints with the police and extorted money from people. They even did lodge false FIRs as a tactic to force the victims to pay up the money they demanded.
Police said that the women used to contact prospective clients online as escort service providers and then travel with them to Goa and stay in their hotel room. On the next day, the women would threaten the client with a rape case if they didn’t pay up.
Police said the two women have got people arrested across the country. So far, two rape cases have been registered in Goa, one in Gujarat, among others.
The racket came to light when a Gujarat native, Kiran Patel, lodged a complaint with Calangute police that two women from Gujarat had developed a friendship with him with the intention of threatening him with a false rape case for the purpose of extortion. He said that they extorted Rs 2 lakh from him.
Police, when investigating the case, found that these women have registered many rape cases across India. Police said that details of other fake cases were being obtained from the police stations concerned.
Last November, one of the two accused had filed two rape cases at two different police stations against two different persons. In one complaint, a Gujarat-based businessman was arrested by Panaji’s women police station.
In another case, the woman reached Calangute police station to register a rape case against a Maharashtra businessman.
Police said the woman demanded Rs 15 lakh from the accused to withdraw the complaint. Since he was not ready to pay such a large amount, they began negotiating, and the amount was reduced to Rs 2 lakh.
“When the women were interrogated, they said they had been running the racket on behalf of a woman arrested in Gujarat in connection with the murder of an ex-MLA,” police said.
Also Read: Work Pressure, Long Hours Taking A Toll On AMC Officials, Resignations Continue
