Woman kingpin of honey trap scam caught in theft case in B’luru
Bengaluru: Karnataka police have arrested Arati Dayal, the alleged kingpin of the honey trap scandal that rocked Madhya Pradesh four years ago, in Bengaluru in connection with a theft case, police said on Thursday.
The accused has been arrested by Mahadevapura police in Bengaluru following the complaint by her roommate alleging theft of Rs 10 lakh worth of jewels and cash. The complaint was lodged on September 6 and after interrogation, the accused woman was sent to judicial custody.
The accused who was absconding in Chennai was tracked down and arrested.
According to police, the accused worked as a therapist at spa centres and stayed in a colleague’s room. The police got to know about the background of the accused while questioning her after the arrest.
The Karnataka police have informed about the arrest of the kingpin to the Madhya Pradesh police department. The police are looking into her involvement in other crimes in Bengaluru.
The police have also gathered information on the accused disguised as Arati, Sonu, Samantha, and Agarwal in Chennai and other cities and worked in spas.
The honey trap scandal came to light in 2019 when the Madhya Pradesh police arrested the accused’s associate Shweta in connection with honeytrapping an engineer attached to Indore City Corporation.
The subsequent probe revealed that the gang of Arati Dayal targeted government officers, politicians and influential persons and carried out honey trap operations. The videos of politicians also came out making it national news.
Dayal obtained bail from the court in 2020. The Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court had recently questioned the public prosecutor on the whereabouts of the accused as she had gone off the radar.
The court had further questioned whether the accused Arati Dayal was alive or dead.
Further investigation is on.
