Police have arrested a woman and her male accomplice for allegedly blackmailing a 72-year-old farmer in Latur district of Maharashtra and extorting Rs 14 lakh from him by threatening to file a complaint of rape on the basis of his obscene video that they had recorded after making him drink alcohol, an official said on Friday.
The incident occurred in Sukani village in Udgir tehsil and the gang members extorted money from him since the past over one month, he said.
The accused, identified as Rupali Dhage and Musa Allauddin Shaikh, both residents of Amhedpur, were arrested on Wednesday. One of their accomplices has been detained, while another one - Jakir Gulabsab Shaikh - is on the run, police said.
"Before trapping the elderly farmer, the trio had collected information about him. Last month, the accused went to the victim's farm, offered alcohol to him. After that, they recorded his obscene video with the woman," the official said.
The accused then started blackmailing him as they threatened to make public his video with the woman and also file a complaint of rape against him, he added.
Between May 5 and June 15, they demanded money from him. Accordingly, he paid Rs 10 lakh and Rs 4 lakh on different occasions.
"But when the accused kept demanding more money, he approached the Ahmedpur police. The accused asked him to pay Rs 2 lakh on June 15, but the amount was later settled at Rs 1 lakh. Based on his complaint, the police laid a trap and arrested one of the accused - Musa Shaikh - red-handed while accepting the amount at Ahmedpur bus stand on Wednesday afternoon," the police official said.
The police later arrested the woman from Kalegao Road in the district.
A case was registered against the accused at Ahmadpur police station under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 386 (extortion), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and others.
