Jalna police bust honey-trap gang, woman kingpin among six arrested

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Jalna police have arrested six people, including an alleged woman kingpin with a history of honey-trap offences, for abducting a man, assaulting him and robbing him of cash and mobile phone.The complainant was also forced to transfer money through UPI after the accused recorded an obscene video. The accused also tried to extort more money from the relatives and friends of the complainant.According to the police, the woman kingpin, Sapna Santosh Nikalje (23), is a habitual offender with multiple honey-trap cases registered against her in Jalna and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar districts.Police alleged that her modus operandi involved luring victims, recording obscene photographs or videos, threatening to make them public, taking them to isolated places or lodges, summoning accomplices, assaulting the victims and robbing them.

In an earlier case registered at Karmad police station, the victim allegedly died by suicide fearing social stigma.Following the detection, Jalna superintendent of police (SP) Teghbir Singh Sandhu appealed to the citizens who may have fallen prey to similar crimes to approach the police without fear.The latest incident took place on the night of June 20 under the jurisdiction of Chandanzira police station. According to police, the victim was intercepted on New Mondha Road and taken towards the Dry Port area.

After the victim lodged a complaint on June 23, a case was registered at Chandanzira police station. Taking serious note of the offence, Sandhu and additional superintendent of police Vikram Sali directed police inspector Balasaheb Pawar to crack the case at the earliest.Sali, while talking to TOI, said, “The coordinated efforts of the investigation team led to the arrest of all the accused within four hours of identifying the suspects and the recovery of crucial evidence.”The remaining five accused have been identified as Avinash Ganesh Zhote (26), Arjun Chaman Bahadur Rajput (34), Shankar Manik Jadhav (26), Atish Satish Gaikwad (19) and Sachin Laxman Kanthale (32).