Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
A 63-year-old retired bank employee in Ahmedabad was duped of Rs 24 lakh in a honeytrap after a woman he befriended on Facebook lured him to a meeting, following which two men posing as police officers arrived within seconds and threatened to implicate him in a fake narcotics case.
The ordeal began in October 2025 when the retired banker, who lives in Ahmedabad’s Satellite area, connected with a woman identified as Payal through Facebook. The two began chatting and eventually became friends.
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Payal later invited him for a meeting. When the 63-year-old reached the spot, she got into his car.
According to the police, within about 10 seconds, two men arrived on a motorcycle and confronted him. They posed as police officers and told him that Payal’s name had surfaced in a narcotics case and that he too would be implicated if he did not comply with their demands.
The men also threatened to file a false case against him and began extorting money from him.
RS 24 LAKH EXTRACTED OVER SEVERAL DAYS
Under the threat of being implicated in the fabricated narcotics case, the retired banker paid the gang a total of Rs 24 lakh over several days.
After extracting the money, the accused stopped contacting him for some time. The man hoped the matter had ended, but the gang contacted him again on October 5 and demanded another Rs 7 lakh.
Frustrated and angered by the continuous pressure for money, the man decided to tell his son about the whole incident.
The family subsequently approached the police and worked out a plan to catch the accused while making another payment.
As part of the plan, the man agreed to pay Rs 1 lakh. He was asked to meet the accused at Pakwan Circle and hand over the money.
GIVE ME WRITTEN ASSURANCE’: MAN HELPS POLICE SET TRAP
When he reached Pakwan Circle, three men arrived to collect the money.
The man, however, demanded a written assurance from them that the matter would be closed and that he would not be contacted again.
The demand caught the men off guard. Two of them fled from the spot, while the third collected the cash-filled bag.
The elderly man then alerted the police control room. They cordoned off the area and began searching for the suspect based on the description provided by the victim. They soon apprehended a man carrying a bag containing Rs 1 lakh in cash.
The arrested accused was identified as Alpesh Solanki.
TWO MEN AND WOMAN PAYAL ABSCONDING
During the investigation, police found that Solanki had come to collect the money along with two other men identified as Kishan alias Kano Parma and another accused known as Lala from Mehsana. Both are absconding at present.
Payal, the woman who befriended the retired employee on Facebook and lured him to the meeting, is also absconding.
Police have launched a search for the three and are investigating the gang’s role in the alleged honeytrap and extortion.
The investigation is also focused on how the accused identified and targeted the retired banker, how the fake police threat was executed and whether the gang may have targeted other people using a similar method.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
