KALLAKURICHI: A 27-year-old man, who allegedly morphed images of women, and another man who threatened to expose him were arrested by Thiyagadurugam police. According to the police, the arrested accused are M Vasanthkumar (27) from Veeracholapuram near Kallakurichi, who works as a temporary staff in the village panchayat and is also a site supervisor for MGNREGA projects and K Dinesh (27).
Vasanthkumar had borrowed Rs 2,000 from Dinesh by keeping his mobile phone as collateral. Dinesh, who went through the phone, found morphed images of women from their village. Subsequently, Dinesh threatened to expose Vasanthkumar if he failed to return the money soon.
When Vasanthkumar failed to repay the amount by Thursday afternoon, Dinesh shared the information with ward councillor Ravi, who already had conflicts with Vasanthkumar’s family. Ravi informed the villagers and by evening around 200 blocked the Chennai-Salem highway demanding Vasanthkumar be arrested immediately.
On coming to know about the developments, Vasanthkumar went into hiding. However, he was nabbed from his hideout in Moorarpalayam. During questioning, Vasanthkumar said he had photographed the women, all MGNREGA workers, for attendance purposes. He then morphed the images using a mobile application. He claimed that the images were deleted before he handed over the phone to Dinesh, who recovered those to put pressure on Vasanthkumar to repay the loan.
However, tension prevailed in the area as villagers protested into the night. Later, Kallakurichi SP N Mohanraj arrived here and held talks. When they did not budge even after that, the police forcefully made them leave. Vasanthkumar was remanded. Dinesh was also arrested on Friday and further probe is on. The police are also looking into Ravi’s involvement in the case.