E-Paper
Ludhiana: Two booked for drugging, blackmailing teenage girl
According to the FIR, the Class 12 student had been unusually quiet and withdrawn for days; it was only after her worried mother pressed her for answers that the truth spilled out
A 17-year-old schoolgirl’s birthday outing turned into a terrifying ordeal, leading to two men being booked for allegedly drugging, recording, and blackmailing her. The incident came to light after the victim’s worried mother discovered the truth.
The Division Number 8 police have registered a case against the two accused, Harsh Sharma and Arjun, who are currently at large.
According to the FIR, the Class 12 student had been unusually quiet and withdrawn for days. It was only after her worried mother pressed her for answers that the truth spilled out.
Her mother in the complaint stated that on May 25, her daughter had gone to a shopping mall near Old Sessions Chowk for a friend’s birthday party. She invited Harsh Sharma, whom she had recently befriended on Instagram. Instead of celebrating, Harsh lured her to a hotel near the bus stand. There, he allegedly gave her a cold drink laced with sedatives.
“When the girl lost consciousness, Harsh recorded obscene videos of her,” said sub-inspector Bhajan Singh, the investigating officer. “He then started demanding ₹2 lakh, threatening to leak the footage online.”
Terrified, the teenager turned to her friend Arjun, believing he would help her out of the crisis. She even handed over her social media passwords so he could ‘deal with’ Harsh. However, Arjun allegedly colluded with Harsh, obtained the videos, and began his own blackmail attempts.
The sub-inspector added that both accused have been booked under Sections 75 (sexual harassment), 308(2) (extortion), and 351(3) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 8 (sexual assault against a child) of the POCSO Act. The police have launched a manhunt to track them down.
