Greater Noida cops arrest 2 for extorting ₹1L from man over his private video

Police arrested two men on Sunday for allegedly extorting ₹1 lakh from a 32-year-old man after contacting him through a social networking app, said officers.  Police said the suspects, Vijay (single name) and Kuldeep Singh, allegedly recorded an obscene video of the victim and forced him to transfer ₹1 lakh, threatening that they would send his video to his family members.  

Assistant commissioner of police (Greater Noida) Amit Pratap Singh, said, “The victim, who is a resident of Greater Noida, approached police on Saturday and stated in his complaint that two men extorted ₹1 lakh from him.”  

According to the complaint to police, the victim met the suspects after chatting on the app for three to four days. The suspect called him to meet in person. 

“On Wednesday around 8pm, the victim had gone to meet the suspect, Vijay alias Vijji near Chithera Village in Greater Noida. Later, Vijay’s two friends, Kuldeep Singh and Arun (goes by a single name) joined them. The victim was then taken to an isolated area near Chithera village, where the suspects filmed him in a compromising situation,” said ACP Singh.  

The suspects then stole ₹7,000 in cash and forced the victim to transfer ₹1 lakh in two instalments of ₹80,000 and ₹20,000 by threatening to send the video to his family members, ACP Singh added. 

After four days, the victim approached the Dadri police and filed a complaint. “Based on his statements, a case under section 317(2) (stolen property), 308(2) extortion, 303(2) (theft), and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered against them at Dadri police station, and a team was formed to nab them.” An investigation revealed that the suspects were involved in extorting money using such social networking applications for the past few months. However, due to social stigma, no one approached police before Saturday, said ACP Singh, adding that cases like robbery, assault, and theft were registered against the prime suspect, Vijay.  They were using the application after changing their original identity, said police, adding that a countrymade pistol, a live cartridge, and cash of ₹7,000 were recovered from their possession. Efforts are underway to nab the third suspect, Arun, who is on the run.  

Separately, on September 13, Noida police also arrested two men who allegedly recorded an obscene video of a 20-year-old man after contacting him through a similar social networking app. The suspects were demanding ₹30,000 and a gold necklace. Police said that the suspects were also involved in similar modus operandi.