Ahmedabad: Two men from Dhandhuka have been arrested for their role in a honey trap that involved a fake persona, a staged kidnapping near SG Highway and a ransom demand of Rs 1 crore. The victim, targeted by a woman posing as a job-seeker, ended up losing Rs 12,000, 600 Dirhams, a watch worth Rs 25,000, and a mobile phone valued at Rs 1.2 lakh.
The victim, a fruit wholesaler, lodged a complaint in this regard with the Vastrapur police station on Monday, said crime branch officials.
According to the complaint, it began with a seemingly harmless missed call from an unknown number, prompting Akram Mirza (name changed) to return the call out of courtesy. The call connected him with a woman who introduced herself as Kismet (name changed) and claimed she needed help finding a job. She allegedly lured him into meeting her and soon found himself abducted from SG Highway by a gang posing as crime branch officers and taken to Gandhinagar. They allegedly beat him, extorted valuables, and demanded a Rs 1 crore ransom along with $10,000 in cryptocurrency.
During the investigation, the crime branch officials received information that two members of the gang were standing in Sarkhej area. Acting on this information, the police arrested the suspects, Asik Desai and Alpesh Dabhi, both 38 years old.
They told police that their acquaintance, Abu from Sarkhej, had tipped off the culprits that they could target the victim — also a resident of Sarkhej —for their scheme.
The duo, with the help of an accomplice from Mehsana, arranged for a girl to pose as Kismet. She repeatedly called the victim under the pretext of needing a job, gradually building trust and forming a friendship with him. On the day of the incident, the girl feigned illness and insisted on being dropped home late at night. On the way, Kismet claimed she wanted to vomit, and Mirza stopped his vehicle. That’s when the conspirators struck. Posing as Gandhinagar crime branch officers, they allegedly threatened to implicate him in a kidnapping case. They demanded a ransom of Rs 1 crore, and when the complainant refused to pay, they looted him.
Crime branch officials revealed that Asik Desai has nine cases registered against him since 2015. While four were registered in Dhandhuka, one each was registered in Poshina, Wadhwan, Surendranagar city, as well as Satellite and Paldi in Ahmedabad.
Alpesh Dabhi faces 11 cases: seven in Dhandhuka, and one each in Surendranagar, Pavi Jetpur, Dholera and Valsad.