Man, who claimed to be from royal family and duped 50 women, held

MUMBAI: A man, who allegedly blackmailed and extorted money from several young women by pretending to be a member of a royal family from Rajasthan, was arrested on Tuesday from Aarey Colony.

According to the police, the accused identified as Pukhraj Desai alias Rajveer Singh would befriend women on Instagram, get close to them and access their private photos. Later he would misuse these photos to blackmail them and threaten to publish the photographs on social media and extort money.

Assistant police inspector Atul Sanap, Goregaon police station said that Singh was earlier arrested in June 2021. He had come out on bail on October 30, 2022, and extorted money from another woman.

“During interrogation, he revealed that he would pose himself as a member of a rich royal family of Rajasthan. Whenever a woman followed him on Instagram, he would start a conversation with her and befriend her and eventually extort them. He has revealed that he had exploited over 50 women in a similar manner,” said API Sanap.

The complainant in the current case is a married woman from Goregaon. In March 2021, the accused sent her a friend request on a popular social media site. After she accepted the request, they started chatting, shared their personal numbers and became good friends. Rajbeer not just gained her trust, but also went on holidays to various destinations and clicked photos with her.

Later he started demanding money from her. When she refused to give him any money, he threatened to publish their photographs on social media. The woman then paid him ₹5 lakh, but as he continued to demand more money, the woman approached the Goregaon police station.

HT PHOTO Pukhraj Desai alias Rajbeer Singh