22-yr-old held from Punjab for harassing minors on Insta

A 22-year-old man was arrested from Punjab for allegedly sexually harassing minor girls on Instagram after threatening the minors that he will share their morphed nude photos on social media if his demands of “sexual favours” were not met.

He has been identified as Jatin, the police said, adding that he was nabbed from his native place, Kapurthala in Punjab. The police said the accused was working as a waiter in the UAE for the past three years.

The matter came to light in February after a minor girl complained that she was being blackmailed by an unidentified Instagram user who had nine different Instagram IDs.

The accused created morphed nude photographs of the victim and sent them to her on her Instagram account, the police said.

According to the comlainant, the man started demanding her nudes by threatening her that he would share the morphed nude pictures on her school group. She was scared and sent her nudes to him with the promise that he will put an end to his nonsense. However, after getting her photographs, the accused started demanding sexual favours from her and asked her to meet him at a hotel in Paharganj. The girl refused and narrated the incident to her parents and teachers, the police said.

Thereafter, the victim’s father approached the Cyber West police station and a case was registered. DCP (West) Ghanshyam Bansal said that during the course of investigation, a police team established communication with Meta Platforms Inc. and obtained the details of the suspect’s Instagram IDs used by him for blackmailing the minor girls.

After obtaining the details from Instagram, it was learnt that the accused has registered all the Instagram IDs by using a UAE mobile number. Thereafter, with the help of technical surveillance, his identity was revealed as Jatin and he was arrested from Kapurthala in Punjab, the police officer said.

“During interrogation, the accused confessed to his crime and disclosed that he was working as a waiter in the UAE for the last three years. While in the UAE, he indulged in blackmailing minor girls based in India with a promise to meet them when he returned to India,” Mr Bansal said.

Three mobile phones containing data of blackmailing and extortion were seized from him, the police said.

◗ THE MATTER came to light in February after a minor girl complained that she was being blackmailed by an unidentified Instagram user who had nine different Instagram IDs.