The Gurugram police late Saturday night arrested Shivani Agarwal, who they say played a central role in a conspiracy to frame her own husband in a fake rape case involving a minor, allegedly to extort money. Agarwal, the wife of an IT company owner, is now the fourth arrest in what investigators describe as a widening criminal racket.
According to police officials, Agarwal allegedly paid ₹10 lakh to advocate Geetika Chawla to falsely implicate her husband amid ongoing marital disputes. Chawla, her husband Harsh Kumar Thakkar, and a balloon seller named Hanuman,&nbsp;whose minor son was used to lodge the fabricated complaint were arrested earlier this week. The case was initially filed at Gurugram&rsquo;s Sector 65 police station on October 29.
Senior investigators now believe the case has exposed a larger extortion syndicate targeting men dealing with marital conflicts. As part of the expanding probe, police will reopen two previous rape cases,&nbsp;one filed at Gurugram Women&rsquo;s Police Station (West) in May 2024 and another registered in Faridabad&rsquo;s Sector 8 in June 2024. &ldquo;Reinvestigation of the earlier cases is essential to crack down on the entire network run by Chawla and Thakkar,&rdquo; said DCP (West) Hitesh Yadav. &ldquo;Concerned officials will be intimated soon about the gang that surfaced during the investigation of the fake rape case of Hanuman&rsquo;s minor son,&rdquo; he added.
Yadav said the fresh probe aims to determine how much money the alleged gang extorted, and in which cases wives or other associates were involved. Police believe they have &ldquo;strong evidence&rdquo; proving Agarwal acted in collusion with Chawla to engineer the false complaint. &ldquo;The couple was living together in Sector 48 but had marital discord. Chawla, who initially represented the husband, later came in touch with the wife and connived with her to register the fake case using Hanuman,&rdquo; Yadav said.
Police also discovered that 25 SIM cards used by Chawla and Thakkar were issued using forged documents. One of these SIM cards, given to Hanuman to file the complaint, was found to be fake as well.
A 16-hour search at Chawla and Thakkar&rsquo;s Sector 72 apartment earlier revealed ₹1.14 crore in cash, gold ornaments and coins worth ₹2.85 crore, multiple mobile phones, fake SIM cards, laptops and several passports and Aadhaar cards. The arrested trio was produced in court on Friday, where Chawla and Thakkar were sent to 7-day police remand for detailed interrogation, while Hanuman received five days&rsquo; remand.

Gurugram Woman Held for Fake Rape Extortion Plot

Police uncover racket framing men in false rape cases; mastermind lawyer, aides under prob

Gurugram Woman Held for Fake Rape Extortion Plot

Police uncover racket framing men in false rape cases; mastermind lawyer, aides under prob

November 9, 2025 | 15:07 IST