In a major honeytrap scandal, influencer Kirti Patel, who has over 1 million followers, was arrested in Gujarat for allegedly blackmailing a builder and attempting to extort crores of rupees from him through threats.
A social media influencer who had been on the run for over 10 months after allegedly honeytrapping a builder and attempting to extort crores from him has been arrested in Ahmedabad.
According to the police, a case was filed against Kirti Patel, who has 1.3 million followers on Instagram, in Surat on June 2 of last year, and a warrant was subsequently issued against her by a court.
Adding that the influencer is also implicated in other complaints related to land grabbing and extortion, an official stated,
“Patel was accused of honeytrapping a builder in Surat and then blackmailing him, demanding crores. Four other individuals were also named in the first information report (FIR) and had been arrested earlier,”
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Despite the court-issued warrant, Patel managed to evade capture by changing locations and using different SIM cards.
She was eventually tracked down to the Sarkhej area of Ahmedabad, where the Surat Police collaborated with local authorities to arrest her on Wednesday.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar said,
“We had been trying to track Kirti Patel down for 10 months. With the help of our technical team and cyber experts, we tracked her location to Sarkhej in Ahmedabad. We contacted our counterparts in Ahmedabad and arrested her. She has been accused of honeytrapping and extortion… In these 10 months, her location kept changing constantly, in different parts of Gujarat. The IP address kept changing, as did her phone numbers and SIM cards. We also coordinated with Instagram to get her location,”
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He added,
“There are several other complaints against Patel as well, including land grabbing and extortion. We will record her statements in these cases and investigate them further,”
Mr. Kumar urged individuals facing extortion attempts to visit police stations or approach the ACP or DCP’s office to file complaints.
There is no specific provision titled “honeytrapping”, but it can be prosecuted under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Information Technology Act, depending on the circumstances. Honey trapping usually involves attracting a person into a romantic or sexual relationship to blackmail, extort, or extract sensitive information.
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