TIRUPATI: Chittoor police arrested four persons involved in threatening and harassing a woman for money in a loan app case under II town police station limits.
The accused were identified as Devendra Kumar (25), Dharmendar Singh (26) and Prashanth Gautam (23) of Uttar Pradesh, and Lilu Sharma (27) of Haryana.
According to DSP N Sudhakar Reddy, a woman from Girimpeta of Chittoor city obtained a loan of Rs.6,000 on clean loan App on March 22, 2022 and repaid Rs.10,170 including interest on loan amount on March 29, 2022.
Some days later, she received a message from an unknown number, in which the unidentified person informed her that she would be portrayed as a loan defaulter and as a fraudster to all her contacts.
"Even after repaying the loan along with interest, the miscreants started to share obscene pictures and threatened her that her photographs would be morphed and shared to her contacts if she didn’t pay an extra amount. Though she again paid them Rs.20,840 in some installments, they continued to threaten her", the DSP said.
Vexed with their harassment, the woman lodged a complaint with II town police, who registered a case and started investigation. Based on the WhatsApp number and bank account of the accused, the police ascertained that the bank account belongs to someone in Uttar Pradesh. After identifying the accused, the police laid a close watch and arrested the accused at Chittoor railway station when the accused came here to extort money again from the victim.
Police have learnt that four accused who earlier worked with various loan recovery companies had stolen the borrowers’ information and used it to extort money.
Chittoor SP Y Rishanth Reddy appreciated the efforts put in by DSP Sudhakar Reddy and his team in arresting the four conmen from UP and Haryana.
Police seized four mobile phones and Rs.20000 cash from the possession of the accused.
