Panchkula yoga centre accused of honeytrap extortion and false rape threats

A Sector-21 yoga centre in Panchkula has become the centre of a honeytrap and extortion case that police say turned a wellness setting into a place for hidden recordings, pressure tactics and threats of a false rape case under Section 376. The allegations have pushed an uncomfortable issue to the surface for small yoga businesses: how quickly trust, privacy and personal access can be abused when a studio becomes more than a studio.

The complainant said he had attended the yoga centre in 2024 and later sent the accused Rs 30,000 online when she asked for help. He then alleged that she secretly recorded an objectionable video, threatened to make it viral and used it to extort money. According to local reporting, the payments totalled Rs 2.71 lakh in installments before she demanded another Rs 6 lakh.

Police said the woman was arrested from her residence in Punjab. Officers recovered mobile phones from her, including an iPhone and a OnePlus handset, and said they were checking whether other people had also been targeted. The case has drawn attention because it sits at the intersection of wellness spaces and private relationships, where clients may drop their guard and personal boundaries can blur into manipulation.

The matter comes amid wider concern in Haryana over honeytrap and sextortion-style complaints. Haryana Police said 45.3 percent of rape FIRs and 57.4 percent of attempt-to-rape FIRs analyzed in 2023 were found false. The State Crime Record Bureau reported that 814 of 1,798 rape FIRs disposed of by police that year were found false, along with 124 of 216 attempt-to-rape cases. NCRB-linked figures also showed Haryana with 6,680 false FIRs out of 16,062 disposed crime-against-women cases in 2023.

Haryana State Commission for Women chairperson Renu Bhatia has said the commission would not hesitate to act against anyone misusing the law to falsely implicate others. That warning now hangs over this Panchkula case as well, where police say the investigation remains open and the possibility of more complainants is being checked. For yoga centres and other intimate wellness spaces, the lesson is stark: a setting built on confidence can become vulnerable fast when sympathy, secrecy and money enter the frame.