Kolkata: The Kolkata Police (KP) arrested a man from Haryana late on Thursday night for allegedly sextorting a citizen recently. The accused identified as Zahid was picked up from his residence at Hirwani village, Jhirka Tehsil of Mewat district in Haryana.
He was produced at the Sub-Division Judicial Magistrate (SDJM), Firozpur, in Haryana and the police was granted transit remand of the accused till April 23.
According to sources, the accused interacted with the complainant through social media posing as a woman. During interaction, the complainant was lured into a trap and his nude and obscene pictures were obtained by Zahid.
Later, the accused started blackmailing and threatening the complainant by showing those pictures and videos. Zahid allegedly threatened the complainant to circulate his picture after morphing those with women and sending them to his family members along with friends unless he pays money.
After giving away Rs 36 lakh, the complainant approached the Kolkata Cyber Crime Police Station.
Cops suspect that it is an organised gang and Zahid is just a member of it. The gang creates fake social media accounts posing as women to dupe people.
Also, the gang members have fake WhatsApp accounts and use the logo of a central agency in order to put their targets in fear of getting involved into legal issues.