Man makes ‘obscene video’ of woman, demands ₹90k, held

The person who sent her the message told her he knew about her life, job and family. He threatened to upload the video on social media sites if she did not deposit ₹90,000 in a bank account provided by him ASLAM KHAN, DCP (north-west)

NEW DELHI: A man has been arrested from Kolkata for allegedly superimposing the picture of a 24-year-old Delhi woman in a porn video and blackmailing her into depositing money into his bank account, police said on Thursday.

The 26-year-old man used his sister’s mobile phone for the crime and had shared his mother’s bank account details for depositing the extortion amount, said Aslam Khan, DCP (northwest). Whether his relatives were aware of the crime is yet to be probed, said the officer.

The woman lives in north Delhi’s Model Town and is into freelance work. “Last week, she received an obscene video on Whatsapp. In the video, her face had been superimposed on another woman’s face,” said Khan. “The person who sent her the message told her he knew about her life, job and family. He threatened to upload the video on social media sites if she did not deposit ₹90,000 in a bank account provided by him,” she added.

“The woman was brave and decided to approach the Model Town police station rather than get blackmailed into paying the money. We registered a FIR and put a special team on catching the culprit,” said the DCP.

The address on which the mobile phone number used by the suspect was taken led the police to Kolkata. “Through a chain of people we questioned, we reached the suspect. The mobile phone used in this crime was his sister’s. We seized two mobile phones from him,” said Khan.

The man lived with his family in Kolkata and was unemployed at the time of his arrest. “He would type random phone numbers into the search bar of Facebook. If he search revealed a girl’s unprotected account, he would steal her photos, use it in videos before contacting the victim through Whatsapp,” said the DCP.

Though the suspect told police that it was the first time he had indulged in such a crime, the DCP said she had reasons to suspect him to be involved in more crimes. “Before we could nab him, he had deleted even the video he used in blackmailing the Delhi woman. We have sent his mobile phones for forensic examination and will proceed accordingly if more such videos emerge. Alongside, we are hoping that if there were more victims, they would approach us on getting to know of his arrest,” she said.

The man had taken his mother’s bank account details by telling her that he would soon deposit a lot of money into her account, said the officer.