Govt official blackmail case: Three YouTubers remanded to police custody

Belagavi: The Belagavi district court remanded three YouTubers who posed as journalists to police custody for three days for blackmailing a govt official on Friday.The Malmaruti police station re-arrested Samid Nisar Ahmed Shaikh, Abdul Rashid Makanadar and Mohammed Balekundri, who were arrested earlier in a case where they secretly recorded private footage of a woman govt official at her home, threatened to make it viral, and demanded money.Another accused, Vinod, was arrested last week. He confessed during the interrogation. Following this, the three accused arrested earlier were taken into custody by the court and are being interrogated.According to sources, during the technical examination of the mobile phones of the accused persons, private videos of many women were found.The investigation revealed that a sensitive camera was installed inside the holder of an electric bolt in the house of a senior officer at the district level, and private moments were captured. It is known that later, using those videos as evidence, they demanded lakhs of rupees and threatened her.Malmaruti police, who nabbed the mastermind behind the YouTubers, are gathering information about which other officials they have blackmailed. It is suspected that many more blackmails were carried out. It is reported that the accused confessed during interrogation that they committed such acts prior to blackmailing the woman officer.As the investigation intensified, more victims are likely to come forward, and the accused were taken back to police custody for further interrogation. This case has created created a huge stir in the district.