Tree-top blackmailer lands in police net

LUCKNOW: An alleged wrongdoer can hide for some time, but not forever. A blackmailer’s tactic of spending night after night on a tree to evade arrest finally fell flat. Considering himself ‘safe’ after sunrise, he was in the habit spending the day at home and that’s where the law caught up with him in Pratapgarh district on Monday.

Posing as a senior police officer, this man had allegedly duped close to 40 women across Uttar Pradesh by threatening to get them into trouble over their supposedly indecent pictures, the police said.

He was finally nabbed with his aide, thanks to efforts made by Women Power Line 1090, officials said.

A senior WPL officer said, “The accused Rohit Shukla used to blackmail women by threatening to share their indecent pictures over the internet. In the last few years, over 37 complaints were lodged against him by women from several districts of Uttar Pradesh. He was arrested after he continued his activities despite being warned and counselled over the phone.”

Shukla, who lived at his home in Pratapgarh during daylight hours, was paranoid about getting arrested. So, according to police officials, he slept on a tree near a forest at night to escape notice if police teams arrived to arrest him. The police team, however, arrested him from his home on Monday morning.

According to the police, Shukla used to pose as a senior police officer and asked women to send him money if they wanted him to prevent their ‘indecent pictures’ from going viral on the social media. His aide Aswansh, who was arrested with him, helped him in gathering information about the women, the police said.

Five other persons were also arrested across the state on the initiative of WPL 1090 for harassing or blackmailing women by using the phone or the social media.

› The accused Rohit Shukla used to blackmail women by threatening to share their indecent pictures over the internet. SENIOR WPL OFFICER