MUMBAI, June 8: Mumbai Police on Sunday held a man for blackmailing and extorting money from a minor girl by threatening to expose photos and information about her which he obtained after befriended her on social media.
The arrest was made after the complainant approached the police on Saturday and lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against the accused Ishan Patel.
The accused befriended the victim through social media after she first saw him at a party. They became friends on Instagram in February this year. As their friendship grew, the girl shared her personal information and some photos with him, the police said.
Patel allegedly started blackmailing her, threatening to leak the information and photos and harm her parents. The minor got scared and ended up giving cash and gold ornaments worth Rs 2.5 lakh to Patel.
However, Patel kept demanding more money from the victim so she decided to finally tell her parents about it and they approached the police.
An FIR was registered under sections 384 (extortion), 509 (insulting modesty of a woman by word or gesture or any act) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC, and section 12 (sexual harassment of a child) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offices (POCSO) Act and section 67 A (transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the IT Act.
The accused was produced before a Sessions court and remanded to police custody for a day.