Two men duped, kidnapped in Ahmedabad; same woman linked to both extortion cases

The Ahmedabad Police have cracked an extortion racket that used a honeytrap-style modus operandi to target businessmen from outside Gujarat. The police have registered two separate FIRs against the same set of accused, including a woman, for luring men through WhatsApp and social media under the pretext of business deals, before kidnapping, assaulting and extorting money and gold ornaments by threatening to implicate them in false cases of rape and drug trafficking.

Both FIRs — one filed by a real estate businessman from Rajasthan and another by a nutrition supplement trader from Surat — reveal an identical pattern, with the same woman, using aliases such as ‘Sheetal Patel’, ‘Sheetal Mehta’ and ‘Jhanvi’, playing the central role.

According to police, the woman, whose real name is Heena alias Sheetal alias Jhanvi, a native of Rajkot and currently residing in Vadodara, was recently arrested after being on the run for nearly a year.

Police said Heena and her accomplices, Jayrajsinh Boricha from Amreli, Vijay Sagar from Rajkot, and Mangalbhai Khachar from Botad, had conspired to extort lakhs of rupees by trapping businessmen in Ahmedabad’s Naroda area.

The first case

As per the FIR lodged in 2024, Mukesh Gehlot, a 43-year-old real estate broker from Rajasthan, was contacted on WhatsApp by a woman identifying herself as ‘Sheetal Patel’, who claimed to own property in Ahmedabad and wanted to discuss a deal. When Gehlot arrived in the city on November 11, 2024, she met him at a shopping mall and later took him near a canal.

There, a white Creta car without a number plate arrived, and three men confronted him, accusing him of raping ‘Sheetal’. They allegedly forced him into the car, assaulted him and demanded ₹50 lakh to ‘settle’ the matter.

The gang allegedly drove him around the Indore Highway all night, threatening to implicate him in a rape case. When he failed to pay the demanded amount, they took ₹1 lakh in cash and snatched two gold rings and a gold chain worth around ₹2.4 lakh before releasing him near Dahegam Highway.

The second case

In another FIR filed at Naroda Police Station, Bharatbhai Kukdiya, a 43-year-old nutrition powder trader from Surat, told police that on December 9, 2024, a woman identifying herself as ‘Sheetal Mehta’ contacted him on WhatsApp, saying she wanted to buy nutritional products to lose weight. She invited him to meet near Dahegam Circle, Naroda.

When Kukdiya met her, she took him near a canal on her Activa scooter. Soon after, a white Creta car without a number plate arrived, and three men stepped out, accusing the woman of drug peddling. One of them allegedly searched her bag and pulled out a small packet resembling white powder, accusing both of them of being drug dealers.

The men then allegedly kidnapped Kukdiya, beat him, and demanded ₹25 lakh to avoid implicating him in a drugs case. The gang snatched his Samsung S23 phone, a gold ring, and a wallet, and later forced him to transfer ₹3 lakh through an Angadia firm in Bapunagar before releasing him.

Police investigation

After the two cases came to light, Naroda Police arrested three of the accused, Jayrajsinh Boricha, Vijay Sagar, and Mangal Khachar, in 2024. The main accused, Heena, had been absconding since then. The police recently succeeded in tracing and arresting her in Vadodara.

ACP Reena Rathwa (G Division, Ahmedabad) said, “The woman, who used multiple names, Sheetal, Jhanvi and Heena, had been on the run for a year. She, along with her accomplices, trapped businessmen by posing as a potential client on WhatsApp, then used fabricated rape or drug allegations to extort money. With her arrest, we hope to uncover more cases linked to this gang.”

Police said that the accused hail from different districts, Rajkot, Amreli and Botad, and came together to run a coordinated honeytrap-style extortion racket. Investigators are now examining whether the gang had targeted more businessmen in Ahmedabad and neighbouring districts, and how the extorted money and ornaments were disposed of.

Both FIRs have been registered under sections of kidnapping, extortion, criminal conspiracy, assault and criminal intimidation of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.