NEW DELHI: Five people, including two juveniles, were arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly making an obscene video of a senior citizen and later extorting more than Rs 13 lakh from him, an official said on Monday.
The accused, identified as Rahul Khan (26), Arman (21), Azad (41) and two juveniles, extorted money by posing as Delhi Police officials and even used photos of cops as the profile picture of their WhatsApp and Truecaller accounts. DCP (Shahdara) Rohit Meena said a 67-year-old man lodged a complaint stating that he received a Whatsapp video call from an unknown number in which a girl was doing an obscene act.
“After some time, the complainant started receiving extortion calls. Some persons introduced them as Cyber Police Station SHO and tried to extort money by saying that in case he does not transfer the money they would circulate the complainant’s nude video over social media,” the DCP said.
Due to pressure, the complainant transferred a total Rs 13.70 lakh to their bank account and later approached the police, which after noting his complaint, registered an FIR under relevant sections of law and began probing the matter.
During the investigation, the police analysed bank details and the number of the accused people and after deep analysis and through technical evidence, several raids were conducted at Distt. Bharatpur and Distt Alwar, Rajasthan and five people, including two juveniles were arrested.
During interrogation, accused persons disclosed that they used to make Whatsapp Video Calls and Messenger calls to victims and start playing an obscene video of a girl using a second mobile phone and provoke the victim to do the same after which they recorded the screen of the video call.
“Thereafter one of the persons amongst the group used to call posing himself as SHO of cyber police station saying that a complaint has been registered by a girl against him and thereafter another person used to call the victim by threatening that they would circulate the alleged video of a victim over social media and extorted money from them for removal of video and settlement,” the official said. According to the official, the accused used to target older people as many of them were reluctant to give a complaint.