Honey trap cases in India.

Honey trap cases in India and related case laws.

A Honey Trap is an investigating method in which a person generates romantic interest with the target in order to collect the required information which he/she is investigating. Honey trap is kind of web which is created by the investigator in which he/she generates love relation or physical relation or trap the target emotionally for collecting certain crucial information from the target.

“A Stratagem in which an attractive person entices another person into revealing information or doing something unwise”
Honey trapping is an investigative practice that makes use of romantic or sexual relationships for an interpersonal, political or economic purpose to the detriment of one party is involved in this romantic or sexual affair. Investigators are also frequently employed through better halves, husbands, and different companions generally when a bootleg romantic affair is suspected of the “target”, or concern of the research.
From time to time, this method may be used for the exercise of creating an affair for the reason of taking incriminating pictures for use in blackmail. A honey lure is used by and large to gather proof with reference to the honey trap.

In 2009 the British MI5 distributed a 14-page document to hundreds of British banks, businesses, and financial institutions, titled “The Threat from Chinese Espionage”. It described a wide-ranging Chinese effort to blackmail Western business people over sexual relationships. The document explicitly warns that Chinese intelligence services are trying to cultivate “long-term relationships” and have been known to “exploit vulnerabilities such as sexual relationships to pressurise individuals to co-operate with them.

each task varies depending on what the agent and client determined on throughout their earlier consultant. A common assignment includes the agent starting up contact with the concern via face-to-face interplay. The agent will try to take the conversation similarly into other retailers inclusive of: e mail, textual content messaging, phone calls, etc. The step after this will be taken into consideration the maximum crucial moment of the undertaking. Whether or no longer the challenge is of the same opinion to in addition conversation will decide whether or not the venture will pass deeper or come to a cease. The agent will advocate a second meeting to the situation. Lodges are often used as a meeting region, now not for sexual sex, but to determine whether the problem intends for the relationship to enhance. As soon as the investigation comes to an end, the agent will turn over any document of communication they’d with the situation. Different documents which might be recorded encompass: photos, videos, venue appointments, etc.

Cases of honey trap in India-

Indian soldier who fell victim to ‘honey-trap’ arrested for passing on secrets to Pakistani intelligence-
An Indian army soldier has been arrested for passing on sensitive military information to Pakistani intelligence after he was skilfully ‘honey trapped’ on social media. The arrest comes days after India’s army chief, General Bipin Rawat, warned of an epidemic of ‘cat fishing’ attempts against his forces. Sombir Singh, 22, who was apprehended, last week from Jaisalmer, adjoining the Pakistan border, had entered into a relationship via Facebook with a female claiming to be an officer with the Indian Army Nursing Cops posted at Jammu in northern India.   Calling herself Anika Chopra, she began sending Mr Singh intimate messages seven months ago. Flattered at being wooed by a female officer, the soldier responded enthusiastically and within days the two were exchanging erotic posts and explicit photographs, officials from Rajasthan state police said.  After a few weeks of chatting online, the girl gradually began asking Mr Singh for details about military operations. He responded by sending her classified pictures of Indian tanks, armoured personnel carriers, assorted weaponry in the area and the location of army formations, all of which was highly classified. Police said preliminary investigations had revealed that Singh was paid the equivalent of around £56 for his information, which was initially transferred into his brother’s account to evade suspicion. He later transferred this money into his e-wallet, police said. Investigators suspect that the Facebook account originated in the Pakistani port city of Karachi and was being operated by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) responsible for gathering overseas information. Police are also questioning around 50 other soldiers besides Singh for their possible ‘dalliance’ with the same female agent. Gen Rawat warned soldiers that Pakistani intelligence agencies used the names of Bollywood actresses to entice soldiers into online trysts and then blackmailed them into passing on secret information.

He was handed over to police by the army and was brought to Jaipur where various agencies interrogated him. ADG intelligence Umesh Mishra who was investigating said in the inquiry, “it was found the accused was in touch with Pak intelligence agencies through social media and had shared confidential information with them”. Pak intelligence agency had given him money, which has been proved and special police Jaipur has lodged case under section 3, 3/9 of Official Secrets Acts 1923 and 120b IPC.
Police bust honey trap gang that targeted Delhi’s rich-
The Delhi Police had busted a gang of extortionists who used to “honey trap” rich men and made “objectionable videos” to blackmail them for money. Two members of the gang were arrested in the last two days from south Delhi. A 25-year-old woman from a West Asian country, who was used to “trap” men from affluent families, and four others, including 45-year-old gang leader Jahangir alias Shekhu, are still absconding, Police said the gang blackmailed around a dozen men from Delhi and extorted more than ₹2 crore from them in less than a year. The victims include a reputed doctor, a hotelier, an architect, a bakery shop owner, two air-conditioner (AC) showroom owners, two builders, one real estate developer and a travel agent. Barring the doctor, who filed a case a couple of months ago, the other men never informed the police or their family members. “Almost all of them were paying extortion amounts in instalments out of fear of being exposed. Eight men filed complaints after they are told them that their identities will be kept a secret,” said a senior police officer. The arrested men are Noor Mohammad alias Aslam, 38, and Mahender, 33, both from south Delhi. The police had announced a R20000 reward on Aslam’s arrest, as he was wanted in the case filed by the doctor. Deputy Commissioner of police (special cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah said the doctor told the police that in early October 2018, a woman from a West Asian country came to one a charitable health centres he visited for treatment. She frequented the clinic and became friendly with him. Once, Kushwah said, the woman pretended that she was unwell and requested the doctor to come to her Delhi’s Zakir Nagar rented flat to examine her. The DCP said they got intimate and her associates filmed them with miniature cameras fitted in the TV set-top box. A few days later, the doctor received a clip of the film and an extortion demand of R20 lakh. The doctor paid a few lakhs of rupees. But when the demands increased, he filed the case, police said. Aslam was caught near Nehru Place on a tip-off. His interrogation led to Mahender’s arrest from Okhla Mandi the next day. “Apart from extorting cash, the gang members asked the victims to leave their debit cards at assigned places and made them share the passwords. The cards were later returned,” said an investigator.

Two Arrested in Delhi For Honey Trapping, Extorting People-
A 23-year-old man and a woman were arrested for allegedly honey trapping people to extort money from them. One of the accused has been identified as Parminder Singh, a resident Tilak. An investigation was launched based on a complaint that a man was being held captive at a rented accommodation in Tilak Nagar by some people who were demanding money in return for his release. A trap was laid and Singh was arrested when he arrived to collect the ransom. Raids were then conducted at possible hideouts of the accused and the woman was arrested from one among these. During interrogation, Parminder confessed to have committed more than five incidents of extortion in the last one month. The accused mainly targeted old men of wealthy background that they would have a woman involved with the racket befriend the target and bring him to an accommodation rented by the accused in advance. Once the woman and the victim were inside the apartment, other members of the racket would show up and threaten the victim of implicating him in a false rape case and extort him.

Delhi Man Duped Of Rs. 5.9 Lakh by Nigerian Posing As Woman on Facebook-
A Delhi-based businessman was allegedly duped of Rs. 5.9 lakh by a Nigerian national who befriended him on Facebook while posing as a London-based woman. Ogbondo Ifeanyi Henrey, 35, was arrested after his rented accommodation in south Delhi’s Devli was raided on Wednesday. Police said he posed as Holly David on Facebook to dupe Sanjay Banerjee. The victim told police that Mr Henrey befriended him as Holly David on Facebook in January last year. “They were in regular touch on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. She also sent him photos, which were later found to be those of a London-based female model,” police said. Holly David expressed her love to Mr Banerjee, thus honey trapping him. Holly David claimed she’d visit India to meet Mr Banerjee in February 2017. On February 6, Mr Banerjee received a call wherein the caller posed himself as a custom officer from Mumbai. “The man said that Holly David was in his custody and she had to pay Rs. 55,000 for custom clearance,” police said.

Mr Banerjee later transferred Rs. 5.90 lakh from his bank account to the alleged person’s account over three instalments. Police added that Mr Henrey used to send friend requests to various people even in the past by using the same modus operandi. Police recovered 21 sim cards, two laptops, two routers and five debit cards from Mr Henrey. Police said that the accused and his accomplice, Viveinlly, with who he was in a live-in relationship, had cheated several others.
Pak Groups Using Women to Lure Young Men into Terrorism-

‘Honey trapping’ is one of the new methods used by Pakistan-based terror groups to woo young men towards terrorism and use them as human carriers for delivering arms from one place to another or acting as guides to infiltrating terrorists.

An intelligence-based operation had led to the arrest of Syed Shazia, a woman in her early 30s from Bandipore, a fortnight ago. It was seen that she had many accounts on social networking sites such as Facebook and Instagram which many young men in the Valley followed.
Officials from the central security agencies had been keeping a watch on the Internet Protocol (IP) address used by Shazia for several months. She used to converse with young men and would promise to meet them only if a certain “consignment” was delivered from one place to another.
Shazia had been in touch with some officials in the police department as well, but the officials termed it a usual tactic of “double-cross” as she used to report the movement of troops and “not so sensitive” information to her handlers across the border. During interrogation, she told the investigators about the presence of some more women in terror ranks who had been tasked with luring young men into terrorism. A week before her arrest on November 17, the Jammu and Kashmir Police had arrested Aysia Jan (28) for carrying 20 grenades in Lawaypora on the city outskirts, after receiving inputs about trying to smuggle arms and ammunition into the city.
Besides grenades, the police had also seized ammunition from her possession. Her monitoring had started during the probe of a case from September when the police killed Abu Ismail, the Lashker-e-Taiba terror chief in the valley, and Chotta Qassim. Both were involved gunning down of Amaranth pilgrims in whom eight people were killed. Some documents and materials were seized from the encounter site in the outskirts of Srinagar city which indicated that an unidentified woman from North Kashmir was involved in supplying arms and ammunition to the two terrorists. The woman was identified as Syed Shazia. Continuous monitoring of her social media presence showed that she was getting diktats from across the border for honey trapping and luring youths into terrorism from across the border. She was in constant touch with Sherwan alias Ali of Jaish-e-Mohammed terror outfit who introduced her to Pakistan-based terrorists Sufiyan and Qasim Khan Gauri. Later, she started working as an over ground worker from Jaish terror group and was acting as the main conduit for ensuring delivery of weapons to other parts of the valley. Before her arrest, a special police officer from Handwara was picked up by police for informing Shazia that her phone had been kept on monitoring. It was found that the special police officer identified as Irfan had been passing information to Shaiza, they said. She was arrested under various sections of Ranbir Penal Code (equivalent of IPC) and Arms Act.
As by studying such cases of honey trapping which are taking place in the society it is very important for everyone to get aware with such frauds and tactics used by the criminals to do crime. Proper background check is very important before forming such type of relationship with other.
If someone faces any crime related honey trapping then he/she can file a complaint under various laws-
Section 420 in The Indian Penal Code
Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property.—Whoever cheats and thereby dishonestly induces the person deceived to deliver any property to any person, or to make, alter or destroy the whole or any part of a valuable security, or anything which is signed or sealed, and which is capable of being converted into a valuable security, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Section 417 in The Indian Penal Code
Punishment for cheating.—whoever cheats shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

Section 3 in the Official Secrets Act, 1923
Penalties for spying-

(1) If any person for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State,
(a) Approaches, inspects, passes over or is in the vicinity of, or enters, any prohibited place; or
(b) makes any sketch, plan, model, or note which is calculated to be or might be or is intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy; or
(c) obtains, collects, records or publishes or communicates to any other person any secret official code or password, or any sketch, plan, model, article or note or other document or information which is calculated to be or might be or is intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy  [or which relates to a matter the disclosure of which is likely to affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State or friendly relations with foreign States], he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend, where the offence is committed in relation to any work of defence, arsenal, naval, military or air force establishment or station, mine, minefield, factory, dockyard, camp, ship or aircraft or otherwise in relation to the naval, military or air force affairs of  [Government] or in relation to any secret official code, to fourteen years and in other cases to three years.

Section 419 in The Indian Penal Code
Punishment for cheating by personation- whoever cheats by personation shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

Section 416 in The Indian Penal Code-
Cheating by personation- A person is said to “cheat by personation” if he cheats by pretending to be some other person, or by knowingly substituting one person for another, or representing that he or any other person is a person other than he or such other person really is. The offence is committed whether the individual personated is a real or imaginary person.
Section 66D in Information Technology Act-Punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource.–Whoever, by means of any communication device or computer resource cheats by personation shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to one lakh rupees.
And other relevant laws according to the crime have done by the criminal.