by NEW DELHI: The Crime Branch of Delhi Police has arrested two men from Mewat in Rajasthan for running an inter-state sextortion racket. The accused got a female accomplice to have a video chat with prospective victims and then recorded them nude. The clip was later used to blackmail the victims.
The gang is alleged to have extorted money from 200 victims, a dozen of them high-profile people, including police and government officials and businessmen from different states.
According to Dheeraj Kumar, joint commissioner (crime), the gang used 14 bank accounts to receive the extorted money. The transactions in these accounts are being analysed. Initial examination suggests that around Rs 22 lakh was recently deposited in these accounts.
After receiving multiple complaints, a team led by DCP Joy Tirkey and inspector Anil Sharma investigated the activities of the network across Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat. A few suspects were arrested, who revealed the role of two men belonging to Bharatpur and Alwar in Rajasthan. The two were allegedly the main people running the operations.
Despite several raids, the accused remained at large. Policemen from Delhi then camped in the interiors of Mewat to develop information about the case and managed to identify the man as Samaydeen and Munfed. The informer network was activated and a reward of Rs 10,000 declared for information on each man. The cops received a tipoff about the duo and planned to intercept them in Gurgaon village in Bharatpur. They were apprehended from Subash Chowk and brought to Delhi.
During interrogation, the pair confessed they zeroed in on men aged 45-60 years who were active on social media. Kumar disclosed, “Samaydeen and Munfed prepared fake IDs with profile names and photographs of attractive girls on social apps and sent friend requests to the prospective victims. After becoming friends, they shared their WhatsApp numbers and would begin sexting.”
The accused then held video calls in which their female associate stripped and asked the victims to follow suit. “The victims removed their clothes and the accused then recorded the happenings using screen recording apps,” the joint commissioner added. Once the nudity was recorded, the accused started demanding money. Whenever the female accomplice was unavailable, Samaydeen and Munfed stuck to text messaging posing as a woman. The victims were mostly based in south India, the probe revealed.
“Munfed dropped out of school after Class VII, while Samaydeen, who is Munfed’s brother-in-law, used to drive a JCB. They started their ‘sextortion’ activities around two years ago, and the gang now has more than a dozen members,” Kumar revealed.
The two accused were produced in court and have been taken on two days’ of police remand. They have revealed names and details of several other gang members and efforts are being made to trace them, police said.
The gang is alleged to have extorted money from 200 victims, a dozen of them high-profile people, including police and government officials and businessmen from different states.
According to Dheeraj Kumar, joint commissioner (crime), the gang used 14 bank accounts to receive the extorted money. The transactions in these accounts are being analysed. Initial examination suggests that around Rs 22 lakh was recently deposited in these accounts.
After receiving multiple complaints, a team led by DCP Joy Tirkey and inspector Anil Sharma investigated the activities of the network across Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat. A few suspects were arrested, who revealed the role of two men belonging to Bharatpur and Alwar in Rajasthan. The two were allegedly the main people running the operations.
Despite several raids, the accused remained at large. Policemen from Delhi then camped in the interiors of Mewat to develop information about the case and managed to identify the man as Samaydeen and Munfed. The informer network was activated and a reward of Rs 10,000 declared for information on each man. The cops received a tipoff about the duo and planned to intercept them in Gurgaon village in Bharatpur. They were apprehended from Subash Chowk and brought to Delhi.
During interrogation, the pair confessed they zeroed in on men aged 45-60 years who were active on social media. Kumar disclosed, “Samaydeen and Munfed prepared fake IDs with profile names and photographs of attractive girls on social apps and sent friend requests to the prospective victims. After becoming friends, they shared their WhatsApp numbers and would begin sexting.”
The accused then held video calls in which their female associate stripped and asked the victims to follow suit. “The victims removed their clothes and the accused then recorded the happenings using screen recording apps,” the joint commissioner added. Once the nudity was recorded, the accused started demanding money. Whenever the female accomplice was unavailable, Samaydeen and Munfed stuck to text messaging posing as a woman. The victims were mostly based in south India, the probe revealed.
“Munfed dropped out of school after Class VII, while Samaydeen, who is Munfed’s brother-in-law, used to drive a JCB. They started their ‘sextortion’ activities around two years ago, and the gang now has more than a dozen members,” Kumar revealed.
The two accused were produced in court and have been taken on two days’ of police remand. They have revealed names and details of several other gang members and efforts are being made to trace them, police said.
