Pune Crime Files: How ‘sextortion' led to suicides of 2 youths within days of each other
On September 28, 2022, a 19-year-old died allegedly by suicide at his house in the Dattawadi area of Pune city. Two days later, on September 30, a 22-year-old college student also allegedly ended his life at Tanaji Nagar in the Dhankawadi area of the city.
Police probe into both deaths revealed that they ended their lives due to alleged 'sextortion' by online fraudsters who threatened to upload their nude video on social media platforms.
The investigation revealed that the teenager from Dattawadi was living in Pune with his sister. Sometime before her brother's death, she had received a 'Hello' message and a photograph on her Instagram account from an unknown person. The police said the photograph was a 'screenshot' of a video of her brother in a naked position. Also, the person who sent her the photograph deleted it soon after she saw it, they said.
She also told the police that she received a call from a girl, reportedly his brother's friend. The girl told his sister that he was crying over the phone call, saying someone was blackmailing him online. The sister then tried to contact his brother, but he did not respond. Worried about her brother, she left her workplace and rushed home, but was shocked to see that he had died by suicide. She lodged an FIR at the Dattawadi police station, now named the Parvati police station.
Police probe revealed that a fraudster posing as a woman named 'Preeti' was chatting with the teenager from an Instagram account. The fraudster took his nude videos and photographs and demanded money by threatening to circulate them on social media, said the police.
The teenager got afraid and transferred Rs 4,500 in three instalments to the blackmailer from a phone-based payment application on September 28, 2022, said the police. But the blackmailer allegedly demanded more money and circulated his photographs on social media.
The police probed the Instagram and online payment accounts used by the fraudster for the commission of the crime. Using technical investigation techniques, the police confirmed the involvement of a 29-year-old man from the Gothri Guru village in Lachhmangarh taluka of the Alwar district of Rajasthan.
A police team arrested the accused from his village in November 2021. The police found that many youths from the Gothri Guru village were trained to commit such 'online sextortion' crimes. A senior police officer, who was part of the investigation, said the case is currently pending trial before a court in Pune.
In the death of the student from Dhankawadia, his brother lodged the FIR in this case at the Sahkarnagar police station on October 9, 2022.
The police found the student was chatting with a fraudster posing as a woman on a WhatsApp number. They said the victim had long chats, including voice calls and video calls, with the fraudster for about two-and-a-half hours on September 30.
The fraudster allegedly took a nude video of the victim while chatting. The fraudster allegedly demanded money by threatening to upload his nude images and videos on social media platforms. The victim transferred Rs 4,500 to the fraudster through PhonePe, but the blackmailing continued, said the police.
The victim told the fraudster that he would die by suicide. But the fraudster allegedly replied, 'Karo, main video online karta hun (do it, I will circulate the video online).' The victim got depressed and ended life, the police said.
The police booked the accused under sections 306 and 384 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the provisions of the Information Technology Act. Following a technical investigation, a Sahkarnagar police station team led by Senior Inspector Savalaram Salgaonkar nabbed a 22-year-old accused from the Raipur Suketi village in Rajasthan in January 2023. The police said many youths from this village were also involved in similar online crimes.
The police said the two suicides highlighted the dangers of 'sextortion' crimes and issued several advisories.
When MLA was targeted in 'sextortion' attempt
In February 2023, in yet another 'sextortion' case, the Pune city police arrested a 24-year-old man from the Sihawali village in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan for allegedly trying to extort money from then Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Yashwant Mane by making obscene video calls to him on WhatsApp and threatening to circulate it on social media.
In a press conference, Mane said that since January 23, 2023, he had been receiving several sleazy messages from a number used by the accused. Mane said he initially ignored the messages, but on January 31, he started getting video calls. Mane said when he picked up a video call, he saw an obscene video of a woman, so he disconnected it within seconds.
The accused did a screen recording of this short call and threatened to circulate it to the MLA's contacts if he was not paid Rs 1 lakh. Mane reported this to the police, following which they nabbed the accused. Mane was then MLA from Mohol in the Solapur district of Maharashtra.
Chandan Haygunde is an assistant editor with The Indian Express with 15 + years of experience in covering issues related to Crime, Courts, National Security and Human Rights. He has been associated with The Indian Express since 2007.
Chandan has done investigative reporting on incidents of terrorism, left wing extremism, espionage cases, wildlife crimes, narcotics racket, cyber crimes and sensational murder cases in Pune and other parts of Maharashtra.
While working on the 'Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) Fellowship on Tigers, Tiger Habitats and Conservation' in 2012, he reported extensively on the illegal activities in the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra. He has done in-depth reporting on the cases related to the Koregaon Bhima violence in Pune and hearings of the 'Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry'. ... Read More
Sushant Kulkarni is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express in Pune with 12+ years of experience covering issues related to Crime, Defence, Internal Security and Courts. He has been associated with the Indian Express since July 2010.
Sushant has extensively reported on law and order issues of Pune and surrounding area, Cyber crime, narcotics trade and terrorism. His coverage in the Defence beat includes operational aspects of the three services, the defence research and development and issues related to key defence establishments. He has covered several sensitive cases in the courts at Pune.
Sushant is an avid photographer, plays harmonica and loves cooking. ... Read More
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