CHENNAI: A 23-year-old engineering graduate from Tirunelveli has been arrested by the Tambaram city police for extorting gold and cash from a minor girl after befriending her online. A preliminary investigation by the police revealed that the accused has extorted more school and college girls in the same way with their intimate photos after befriending them on social media.
The accused was identified as Velmurugan, 23, from Tirunelveli, who has been unemployed for two years since his graduation.“He has been active on all platforms of social media and got in touch with a minor girl from Chengalpattu district,” said the police.
The 16-year-old victim is in Class 11, said the police. They got acquainted by playing online games like Free Fire and got to know each other in the last year. The girl had even given Velmurugan Rs 1.5 lakh during the time for playing games online.
"Later the duo got intimate and exchanged private photos and Velmurugan also recorded videos of the girl. Last month, Velmurugan started to speak in a demeaning tone and an argument broke out. The girl learnt about the photos and videos that he had stored,” said the police officer. Velmurugan threatened the girl that he would publish them online and offered not to if the girl gave him gold. Police said that the girl stole 12 sovereigns of gold from her mother’s locker and sent it through a courier.
Last week Velmurugan demanded Rs 30 lakh from the girl and a day later her mother found gold from her cupboard missing. When questioned, the girl spilt the truth and the police were informed. The Guduvanchery All-Women police registered a case and a special team of police nabbed Velmurugan from his hometown.
Police said Velmurugan had contacted more girls in a similar manner. “We seized five mobile phones and two laptops. There were several pictures and videos of some girls from different districts. Girls whom he met online,” said the police officer. He was remanded in judicial custody.