Mumbai: Man held for extorting techie with nude pics

Mumbai: A Powai police team has arrested a Rajasthan-based man for allegedly threatening a software developer with publication of her nude pictures online, unless she paid him Rs 45,000.

The police said that the duo had met online and after befriending him, she shared the private pictures that were later used to blackmail her.

The accused, identified as Jatinkumar Sikrani (18), hails from the Kotwal village in Pratapgarh district of Rajasthan.

The officials said that he came in contact with the victim via an Internet-based video application. Subsequently, they exchanged numbers and used WhatsApp to keep in touch with each other.

“The accused sweet-talked the woman into sharing her nude pictures and soon after, he started demanding money to prevent them from being made public. The woman, however, approached the police and lodged a complaint against the accused,” said an officer of Powai police station.

Sikrani sought '45,000 from the victim, months after having met her on the application in July. In a bid to convince the woman, Sikrani had also said that he was in love with her.

The duo, however, had a falling out after Sikrani objected to her chatting with other persons on the application.

Before the complaint was lodged, Sikrani allegedly uploaded some of the victim’s pictures on the same application, which the woman learnt of later.
The police also seized  three phones from the accused that were used in the crime.

The said phones will be sent for forensic analysis to ascertain if they were used to connect with or harass other women. The phones’ data will be retrieved and it would be used as evidence in the case, the police said.

Sikrani has been booked for defamation, extortion and outraging the modesty of women as per the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under sections of the Information Technology Act. Further probe is underway.