19-yr-old held from Faridabad for extorting over 50 girls, women using morphed images

New Delhi: A 19-year-old man was arrested from Faridabad for allegedly harassing more than 50 girls and women by stalking them on social media platforms through a fake identity, morphing their pictures and then using them to extort nude pictures from the victims, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, Rahim Khan, studied up to Class 8 and was engaged in operating various morphing mobile applications, they said.

The police said the accused harassed more than 50 girls and women after stalking them over various social media platforms. He used to send them messages with sexual connotations on these platforms by impersonating a woman. The accused even targeted minors by morphing their pictures.

Khan was arrested after a complaint was received at the RP Puram police station on Tuesday from one of the victims, who alleged that an unknown person was sending her morphed pictures to her from the Instagram handle "ch_rahim_khan786" and further demanding nude pictures, according to the police.

Based on technical inquiry and details obtained from Instagram, a Cyber Cell team of southwest district traced the location of the accused. Khan was nabbed from his house in Haryana's Faridabad, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Ingit Pratap Singh said.

During interrogation, Khan confessed to his involvement in the crime and told the police that he had victimised over 50 girls and women across the country for personal satisfaction, the officer said.

The police have recovered incriminating evidence including chat details, video clips and photographs of various women from Khan's mobile phone.

Further investigation is underway, the police said, adding that efforts are being made to contact the other

victims.