A degree dropout, Bhimini Ganesh, who was arrested by the Krishna district police for allegedly recording nude videos of girls and blackmailing them, was produced in a court in Visakhapatnam and remanded in judicial custody.
The accused, a native of Kondrapalli village, Nagar Kurnool district, Telangana, deceived many girls and boys and collected money from them under the threat of posting their obscene videos on social media, said Krishna district Superintendent of Police P. Jashua.
The victims were from Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Krishna and other districts in the two Telugu States. Based on a complaint, the Visakhapatnam CCS police registered a case against the accused.
“The Disha Mahila Police, Cyber Crime and the Gudur police arrested him and seized the obscene videos, sexual content, mobile numbers of victims, a laptop and mobile phones from him” Mr. Jashua told The Hindu on Friday.
A police team led by the Machilipatnam Central Crime Station (CCS) DSP Murali Krishna, Disha Mahila Police Station CI Naresh Kumar, SI Md. Mastan Khan, IT Core Team SI Deepika and other officers investigated the case.
POCSO case
Cases have been registered against the accused under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and IT Act besides some other legal provisions, he said.
“The modus operandi of the accused is to collect personal details, including photos and contact numbers of women from social media groups and show them as call girls. Later, he calls the victims and forces them to make video calls in the nude by threatening to post their morphed photographs on some platforms,” the SP said.
“He also forces them to indulge in lewd talk and records everything. Later, he blackmails them using the videos and collects money. Many victims have transferred money to his accounts online,” Mr. Jashua said.
The accused had also sold such videos and made money. The police seized his mobile phones, ₹3 lakh cash and other material, said Additional Superintendent of Police Venkata Ramanjaneyulu.
“Ganesh, working in an online marketing firm, has been into the illegal activity for the last one year. Many have landed in his trap and suffered harassment,” he added.
