NEW DELHI: A youth allegedly tried to extort money from a 19-year-old he was previously in a relationship with by threatening to circulate her private pictures on social media, officials said on Saturday. The accused told police during interrogation that he had recently joined a gym and needed money to purchase imported protein powder and other supplements.
Delhi Police has arrested two persons for attempting to extort money from the victim as well as her father, they said.
Police said one of the accused - also a teenager - was in a relationship with the victim previously but they had broken up. He had created an anonymous social media handle to threaten the 19-year-old, they said.
"A complaint was received in the cyber police station through National Cybercrime Reporting Portal from a 19-year-old woman. She told the police that she had been receiving threatening messages on her social media platforms from an anonymous person," Deputy Commissioner of Police (north) Manoj Kumar Meena said.
"She told police that the accused was threatening to circulate her private pictures if she did not pay money," Meena said.
The accused told her father about the matter who too had received the same threats, police said.
After receiving an official complaint, an FIR was registered and an investigation was taken up in the matter, they said.
"Our investigation team found that the location from where the fake ID was created was found to be in Ashok Vihar. Later our team arrested one Govind (22) on December 6, the DCP said. Govind named the other accused Ansh Sharma who was also arrested on the same day, he said.
Police said that during interrogation Sharma disclosed that he knew the complainant since she was in 6th standard through common friends.
Police said both came in regular touch with each other through social media in 2020. They fell into an online romantic relationship and exchanged their Instagram passwords of their personal accounts. However, they soon broke up, police said.
The accused then logged into her social media profile and while going through messages he found some private photos in a chat, they said.
"He downloaded those photos and sent them to Govind. Sharma created an anonymous account on social media and started blackmailing the victim. Mobile phones of both the accused have been recovered and seized," the DCP said.
The private photo belonging to the victim was found on Sharma's mobile phone and the anonymous social media account was recovered, police said.
"Sharma told police that he had recently joined the gym. He was in need of money to purchase imported protein powder and other supplements for bodybuilding," DCP Meena further said.
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