Arrested JeM Suspect Lured Aspiring Models for Honey-Trapping Racket

KOLKATA:
Hamim Mondal, the suspected Jaish‑e‑Mohammed (JeM) associate, who was arrested last week from Burdwan in West Burdwan district, used to target new and upcoming models for honey-trapping politically and socially influential persons in West Bengal.

At the same time, attractive female social media influencers, who are regular in posting reels on social media, were also his target; the investigating officers have learnt after interrogating Hamim.
In fact, Arpita Sarkar, his female aide, who was arrested last week in Sahibganj in neighbouring Jharkhand, was a social media influencer who frequently posted reels, which became Mondal’s first point of contact.

This assignment for roping in attractive young women, as per his confessions during interrogation, was given to him by Shahzad Bhatti Network (SBN), a Pakistan-based terrorist-criminal group, sources said.

According to sources, Mondal’s role was limited to the initial stage of establishing contact between his targets and the SBN handlers based out of Pakistan. Thereafter, the SBN handlers used to contact the target independently, bypassing Mondal, which happened in the case of Arpita Sarkar.

Now, the investigating officials of the Special Task Force (STF) of West Bengal Police are trying to track the identities of other young and attractive women who had been trapped by Mondal apart from Arpita Sarkar. The STF sleuths have also arrested Aditya Singh, the second aide of the suspected JeM associate.

The investigating officials are also trying to locate those who have become victims of a honey trap but remained silent for fear of losing social prestige.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), on Monday, interrogated Mondal and Sarkar, and is likely to interrogate Aditya Singh today.

Sources said, if necessary, all three might be interrogated together by the NIA to avoid contradictions in their statements.

The STF officials, following interrogation of Mondal and Sarkar, have learnt that SBN targeted the family members of at least six current members of the West Bengal cabinet through Arpita. Besides the family members of the state cabinet members, some other influential persons in the state’s administrative machinery were also targeted through Sarkar, as revealed in the investigation so far.