MAN ARRESTED FOR POSING AS WOMAN FOR EXTORTIONS

BARMER: Barmer police was left in a tizzy after an accused, whom they were searching for in the last five months and arrested on Friday, turned out to be a man.

The man, Ilyas, had pretended to be a woman, named Suman, and allegedly extorted money from Ratan Singh, a resident of Barmer who had committed suicide on April 6, police said.

Investigating officer Ram Pratap Singh said deceased Ratan Singh’s younger brother Om Singh lodged a case.

Police recovered a suicide note and a video clip from the deceased in which he named the accused for extorting him.

Om Singh alleged that for the past five-six years accused Sajjan Singh, Ratan Singh, Bhawani Singh and Saitan Singh and a woman were harassing and blackmailing his brother.

They threatened to trap him in a sexual assault case. Om Singh claimed that due to the threat, his brother started living under pressure and depression and finally ended his life.

He alleged that the accused also extorted Rs10 lakh from his brother. On basis of Om Singh’s report police lodged the case and arrested the four accused -- Sajjan Singh, Ratan Singh, Bhawani Singh and Saitan Singh -- on April 10. All are presently out on bail from the high court.

Ram Pratap said police were also searching for the woman, Suman, whose number was mentioned in the suicide note.

A cyber team was formed to trace Suman and on Friday they reached the number user in Jodhpur which turned out to be Ilyas, (23), of Derasar village. He admitted that he had called Ratan Singh. According to police, Ilyas is student of third year BA and he used to cheat people by this tactic of talk in a female voice on phone. Police said they are trying to probe his involvement in the case and will request court for remand.

Police said Ilyas had managed to get a SIM with forge documents in the name of Rekha Devi. He saved his identity on ‘true caller’ app as ‘Suman’ to hide his real identity and started blackmailing Ratan Singh.

On preliminary questioning, police said they found that Ilyas had duped some other people while pretending to be a woman, said Rampratap Singh.

POLICE SAID ILYAS USED TO CHEAT PEOPLE BY THIS TACTIC OF TALKING IN A FEMALE VOICE ON THE MOBIILE PHONE