Goa Police have busted a big racket in which good-looking girls from poor families are lured with money to file false rape cases across the country.

The special crime branch team, supervised by deputy inspector general (DIG) Aslam Khan, arrested one Harish from Gujarat. It was the fourth arrest in the case.

“We have found that it’s a big inter-state racket,” Khan was quoted as saying by TOI.

She further said that the racket involves people identifying good-looking girls and offering them money to file false rape cases. “When girls realise that it is easy money, they don’t leave (the racket). It’s a vicious circle; once they are in, they cannot go out,” Khan added.

The investigation began when Goa Police busted an interstate racket run by two women from Gujarat who used the threat of fake rape cases to extort money. The women used to contact clients under the pretext of providing escort services, and then threatened them with rape if they failed to pay.

Police said that the women used to contact clients online, travel with them to Goa, and stay in the clients’ hotel rooms. The next day, the women would threaten with a rape case if they didn’t pay up huge money.