Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Police arrested two men from Bharatpur in Rajasthan for allegedly making a sextortion call to Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries and Jal Shakti Prahlad Singh Patel.
The Superintendent of Police, Damoh said Patel’s personal secretary Alok Mohan had reported the incident in the last week of June to the New Delhi police. The police registered a case under Sections 419 and 420 of the IPC.
According to the complaint, the accused targeted Patel through social media. They made a video call to his number and during the call they played a pornographic video with the intention of blackmailing him. However, the Minister immediately disconnected the call.
Later, he received a call in which the accused threatened to release his video clip on social media, police officer said.
The Minister than promptly reported the Delhi Police Commissioner about getting a sextortion call following which the Police started the investigation that led to two arrests from Rajasthan’s Bharatpur.
According to a police officer, a “sextortion” call typically involves blackmail, wherein the caller threatens the receiver to release a phone/video call of sexual nature to the public.
An officer stated that with the help of local police informers, they laid a trap and arrested two accused. They recovered one of the phones that were used for making the call to the Union Minister and sent it for forensic examination.
Later, they successfully traced the two phone numbers which were used in the cybercrime.
During the investigation, the police came to know that the accused were running an organized “sextortion” racket. The officer informed that the investigation team found out that one SIM was used in 36 International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers, while the other one was used in 18 IMEI numbers.
