BENGALURU: The city police on Saturday arrested the 31-year-old son of an eminent astrologer for allegedly blackmailing the son of Minister for Cooperation ST Somashekar. The accused allegedly made repeated calls to the minister’s staff, threatening to upload an obscene but morphed video clip of the minister’s son Nishanth on online websites.
Somashekar said the accused had demanded money for not uploading the video, but had not mentioned the amount.Based on Nishanth’s complaint, the Cyber Crime police tracked down the accused, Rahul Bhat, and arrested him after he returned from Dubai. He is a resident of RT Nagar.
After Bhat’s arrest, Somashekar said the accused had contacted his close staff to threaten that it was the last chance and he would upload the video on social media. Three calls were made from an international destination in December the minister said.
The morphed video clip had been sent to some people close to Nishanth. “It is a deep-rooted conspiracy to scuttle my political growth. My son Nishanth is innocent,” Somashekar said. The police produced Bhat before a magistrate and handed him over to the Central Crime Branch (CCB) for further investigation. Two more accused, including the daughter of a politician, are involved in the case, the police said. She is said to be living abroad.