Hundreds in Delhi-NCR fall into gang’s ‘massage parlour’ trap

NOIDA: Two members of the Sonu Punjaban gang have been arrested in Noida for allegedly cheating hundreds of people across Delhi-NCR through texts of ‘massage parlour’ or ‘escort’ services that they circulated on WhatsApp groups and web portals, along with pictures of women who would be offering those services.
The two arrested men have been identified as Sanjay, who is a cousin of Punjaban, and Arjun alias Arun. While Sanjay has 20 cases lodged against him in different police stations, Arjun joined the gang recently.

Additional DCP (Noida) Ranvijay Singh told TOI that the accused were active in Noida since a year. They were in possession of data of nearly 1,000 men, all potential clients who had contacted them to avail the services. About 200 of these were from Noida.
Explaining their modus operandi, police said the men used to send potential customers messages and advertisements about ‘spa services’. If a person responded, they would be sent images of several women, of which the target would choose one. A deal would be fixed, often between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000. In some cases, part of the amount would be charged online, including PhonePay, as ‘advance’ to ensure the ‘security of the woman’. The target would then be called to an isolated spot where the men would wait in a car. The accompanying women would fight over the payment, and the men would jump into the fight, loot the target and flee.
One of the targeted men, a grocery store owner from Sector 51, filed a police complaint in this regard. He alleged that the gang members chatted with him on a WhatsApp number and called him near Fortis hospital in Sector 62. On September 2, when he reached the spot, he was approached by two women who arrived in a car. They met him and asked him to pay Rs 5,500 through PhonePay, which he did. Subsequently, he was asked to pay Rs 6,000 more as advance for the women to accompany him. The complainant said he had only Rs 3,000 and did not pay.
Following this, he alleged that two men also emerged from the car and picked up a fight with him. They pulled him inside the car and thrashed him, snatched Rs 3,000 and fled with the women, he claimed.
On the basis of the grocery store owner’s complaint, an FIR was lodged at the Sector 58 police station under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 392 (robbery) and 504 (intentional insult for breach of peace).
Geeta Arora, infamous as Sonu Punjaban, was convicted in July by a trial court in Delhi for kidnapping, human trafficking and prostitution. Currently lodged in Tihar jail, she has challenged the trial court’s 24-year jail term over pushing a 12-year-old girl into flesh trade in the high court.
Meanwhile, a native of Nepal has been arrested in a similar case of loot. Police said that the accused, along with a woman, approached a man when he was standing near Botanical Garden on Saturday night.
“The woman started talking to him and a deal was settled. However, before going with him, she demanded that he pay Rs 5,000 as advance. When the man refused, the duo allegedly snatched the money from him before fleeing,” he said.
The complainant did not inform police. The matter was reported through a mediaperson, cops said.