The gang was busted by officials of local Sector 24 police station, police said (Representational)
With the arrest of five people, including four women, the Noida Police on Tuesday claimed to have busted a gang that allegedly looted customers after luring them in the garb of escort services in Delhi-NCR.
The gang, which includes a married couple based in Delhi, used social media and other online platforms to publicise their services, Noida Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajesh S said.
The officer said the gang, which had been active for more than a year in the region, has been busted by officials of the local Sector 24 police station.
According to the police, the gang would float its contact numbers on social media platforms, offering escort services and when contacted, a member would send across photos of women to them on their mobile phones and engage them in text chats.
Once a deal was fixed, one of the woman gang members would accompany the supposed service provider to a pre-decided location of meeting, which could be a shopping mall or any such place, and then take the target to some isolated spot and rob them, the police said.
"They did not provide services to the customer but take away whatever money they would have either by assaulting or intimidating or threatening them," DCP Rajesh said.
On the number of people targeted by the gang so far, he said, the victims in such cases do not generally come forward and approach the police because they fear it would lead to embarrassment.
"But such incidents had been previously also reported in Noida where similar gangs have been busted. We were analyzing phone numbers linked to them, leading to the arrests today," he told reporters, flanked by additional DCP Ranvijay Singh, ACP Rajneesh Verma and SHO Sector 24 Prabhat Dixit.
The DCP said the married couple were the main organisers of this gang and the police have got links to their further connections with other groups involved in similar activities.
"We are now tracking them and would soon arrest them," he said.
Those held have been identified as Roshni, her husband Divyansh, Sarifa Khatoon, Manju and Parmila, and they were arrested near a park in Sector 54 here, the police said.
Roshni, Divyansh and Sarifa are residents of Delhi, while Manju and Parmila live in Haryana's Faridabad district, the police added.
An FIR has been lodged against them and further proceedings are being carried out, the police said.