Navi Mumbai: Alibaug Teacher Dies By Suicide At Atal Setu After Falling Victim To Sextortion

Sextortion has lead a 50 year old teacher from Alibaug to take an extreme step after travelling all the way to Atal Setu bridge on Friday morning. The teacher identified as Vaibhav Pingalay, a primary school teacher at Zilla Parishad school at Kurdus village in Panvel taluka, he was a victim of sextortion, his family informed the police.

“The family was aware of the incident and his distant relatives were also in police department who had told them to not worry and make a formal police complaint. Fear of bad name in the society did not let him register the case. He had gone to Poynad police station for registering the complaint but he left without doing that,” senior police inspector Arjun Rajane from Ulwe police station said.

According to police, Pingalay left his residence in the morning at 7.30 am by just telling the family that he was stepping out. “He had left the mobile phone at home and travelled all the way till Atal Setu bridge via Chirner and after driving for close to 9 kilometers, he parked his car and immediately jumped off the bridge,”Rajane said.

“This is the year’s first incident of suicide from Atal Setu bridge. The cctv cameras caught the car being parked but the by the time anyone could reach there, he jumped off immediately,” Assistant Commissioner of Police (Port division) Vishal Nehul said.

As per what the family of Pingalay informed Ulwe police, Pingalay had already paid Rs 12,000 and RS 6,000 to the cyber bully. “He had blocked the numbers but yet he kept getting calls from different numbers asking for extortion amount. The cyber accused had the details of the Pingalay’s contact list and kept black mailing him to seek loan from different people,” an officer investigating the offence, said.

The Pingalay had purchased a new phone which was found in the car in a sealed box. The police identified the Pingalay with the help of the registration number of the car that he used and informed his family about the incident.

The search for PIngalay is still on in the sea. Meanwhile, while looking for Pingalay, the police found body of another man. “The body that we found seems to be around three days old and is unidentified. We have informed the nearby police station about the body that we found,” the officer added.

Pingalay resided with his wife who is also a teacher and two kids who are studying in college, at Kurdus village in Alibaug Taluka.

Police have urged to not answer any unknown video calls and if anyone falls prey to Sextortion, one should immediately report to police and not transfer any money.