BENGALURU: Three individuals, including a 38-year-old woman have been arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths for honey-trapping and extorting Rs 2.25 crore from a 46-year-old man who works as the head of the Research and Development section of a multi-national company. The victim, a married man with two children and a PhD in Structural Engineering from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), became the target of a blackmail scheme that spanned over five years.
The victim, who resides in Gokul Extension met the woman, Thabsum Begum (38), at a gym in RT Nagar, where her brother was the owner. Initially, the victim refused to pursue a relationship as he was married, but eventually succumbed to her advances. They engaged in a physical relationship, after which Begum began blackmailing him with their private videos and photographs.
She along with her brother Azeem Uddin (41) and Abhishek alias Avinash (33), who posed as a police officer extorted money from the victim for five years under the threat of leaking his private photographs and videos. Besides, Begum also threatened to file false rape charges against him and warned him of committing a suicide and writing his name in the death note. The victim, who initially feared approaching the authorities, withdrew his provident fund savings and borrowed money from banks and friends to meet their demands.
Besides, he also paid a monthly instalment of Rs 1.25 lakh to the accused. However, when the demands for money increased, the victim finally knocked on the doors of the CCB on Monday.
Based on his complaint, the CCB sleuths arrested Begum, Azeem, and Abhishek. The victim also filed a complaint against another person identified as Anand, who claimed to be an advocate.
In his complaint, the victim stated that the extortion began when Begum, after gaining the victim’s trust, manipulated him into believing that she was pursuing her higher education, which delayed her marriage. She also claimed to have adopted a child to avoid getting married. When the victim realised that she was already married and had a son, Begum began blackmailing him, threatening to release their private videos and photographs. Azeem reportedly threatened the victim to either marry his sister or continue paying money, or he would approach the media. A case of extortion (IPC 384), cheating (IPC 420) and criminal intimidation (IPC 506) has been registered against the accused. Further investigations are on.