BHUBANESWAR: Cyber criminals blackmailed a 55-year-old businessman in Bhubaneswar and extorted Rs 14.4 lakh from him following his video call with an unknown woman a few days ago.
The cyber police station, Bhubaneswar, has started an investigation after receiving a complaint from the victim on Sunday.
Police said the Nayapalli resident received a message on WhatsApp on October 6 from the woman who identified herself as Chandra Shampa. They chatted for sometime. Next evening, the woman made a video call to the victim and shared her nude photos.
Trouble began for the businessman on October 9 when a man called him and introduced himself as Ram Pandey, an IPS officer in Delhi. Pandey told him that the woman lodged a sexual harassment complaint with Delhi police against him. Pandey then shared the number of another man with the victim. Pandey’s aide, who was identified as Manoj, demanded Rs 92,000 from the victim to settle the dispute with the woman, a police officer said.
Pandey again called the businessman and said the woman had uploaded photos she had clicked during their video call on YouTube and demanded Rs 71,000. The next day, Pandey again called up the complainant and claimed that the woman had killed herself in Bengaluru. Pandey told him that her parents would register a murder case against him if he did not pay Rs 4.5 lakh and another Rs 4.5 lakh for a hospital to tamper the postmortem report of the woman. Pandey demanded another Rs 2 lakh to keep media quiet.
"The victim was trapped, blackmailed and forced to pay a total of Rs 14.44 lakh," the police officer said.
