Thane: In a bizarre twist to a supposed sextortion case, a 55-year-old BJP MLA from Chandgad in Kolhapur, Shivaji Patil, who had approached police alleging that a woman was blackmailing him with obscene chats and videos, was in for a rude shock, the 'woman' turned out to be a 26-year-old jobless man with an unusual talent for mimicking female voices.
The Chitalsar police in Thane have arrested Mohan Jyotiba Pawar, an unemployed youth from Chandgad, for allegedly trying to extort between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh from the MLA. Pawar is accused of posing as a woman online and threatening to leak fabricated videos and messages if his demands were not met.
Police Traced Accused Using Digital Footprints
According to police, MLA Patil, who frequently shuttles between Thane and his Kolhapur constituency, lodged a complaint on October 9, claiming that an 'unknown woman' had been harassing him with threats of releasing obscene material. The investigation, however, took an unexpected turn when the cyber team traced the digital footprints of the accused.
Using call records, bank account details and IP address tracking, police located Pawar in Chandgad. When summoned for questioning, he allegedly confessed to orchestrating the extortion plot. Officers said Pawar, who belongs to a farmer’s family, had recently completed his BSc and had been unemployed for the past six months.
Senior police inspector Sunil Warode revealed that Pawar had met the MLA around six months ago while seeking a job at his office but was turned away. “He was in financial distress and decided to exploit his ability to imitate women’s voices to execute the plan,” Warode said, as quoted by Hindustan Times.
Accused Booked, Remanded In Police Custody Till Oct 15
Interestingly, police stated that Pawar had earlier worked as a waiter at a hotel in Lonavala, where his knack for mimicking female voices entertained his colleagues. Pawar has been booked under Section 308(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (extortion) and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form. A local court remanded him to police custody till October 15.
