Two individuals were arrested by Ahmedabad police from Bharatpur in Rajasthan in a sextortion case where a 37-year-old resident of Chandlodia committed suicide after succumbing to blackmail by the arrested culprits. The arrested individuals have been identified as Ansar Hussein Mev and Irshad Mev.
The deceased had already paid the culprits more than Rs 8 lakh for sextortion, but their subsequent demands forced him to take his own life since he was unable to pay huge amounts. Ansar Hussein Mev, a 33-year-old Bharatpur resident, and Irshad Mev, a Haryana native residing in Bharatpur, were both taken into custody by Ahmedabad police.
In this sextortion case, the accused were found using a fake female identity on Facebook to befriend male victims. Once the friend request is accepted, the conversation would move to Whatsapp, where the scam would take place. The accused, actually a male, would use a pre-recorded video clip of a woman undressing to lure the victim into doing the same. The victim would then be threatened with the circulation of the video and police and CBI cases, and money would be extorted from them. The scam would culminate with the accused claiming that the fake female identity had committed suicide.
The accused threatened the victim that if he did not pay the money, he would go to jail. On April 21, the victim hung himself in his gallery with a nylon rope after paying Rs 8,60,600 in order to stop the sextortion.
Following the mobile locations of the accused, it was found that they were present in the Bharatpur area. A team led by PSI A J Sadhu was deployed to apprehend the suspects. During the investigation, the police discovered chats between the accused and the deceased victim on one of the suspect’s phones, along with several nude videos of different women, as well as screen recordings. This evidence has been instrumental in the ongoing investigation into the case.
Ansar and Irshad would create fake female social media IDs to interact with the victims. after recording their video screens, they would pose as police officers, CBI officials, or YouTubers to intimidate people into paying them significant amounts of money. To avoid being caught, they used dummy SIM cards. Additionally, one of the accused who is still absconding, was deployed for recruiting individuals in need of money to buy SIM cards and open bank accounts, promising them a commission of 10 to 20 percent of the deposits. This was the modus operandi of the sextortion racket.
The operation to arrest them was carried out under the supervision of Zone-I ACP G S Syan, DCP Sector-I Lavina Sinha, and Additional Commissioner of Police Neeraj Badgujar. The accused are currently being questioned by the police on the whereabouts of their accomplices and specifics of other people they may have scammed.
Police Inspector J B Agrawat said, “The sextortionists, based in Bharatpur and the adjoining Haryana border, have been extorting money from vulnerable people in Ahmedabad. Our team sent to Surat after locating the accused using mobile towers has been successful in nabbing the culprits. More arrests will be made soon as there are other aides who are absconding.”
