Two held from K’taka for extorting over ₹3 lakh from SoBo resident

The accused have been identified as Mohammed Ali Hidayatali Shaikh alias Soyeb, 22 and Salman Riyaz Hadnoor, 19. Shaikh is a resident of Vijaypur, while Hadnoor is from Bijapur, Karnataka.

Mumbai: Two people were arrested from Karnataka on Saturday for allegedly extorting more than ₹3 lakh from a south Mumbai resident after threatening the victim to upload his nude pictures on social media.

“A police team investigated the case and after scrutinising the call data records and based on technical evidence managed to arrest the accused from Karnataka. During the search, police recovered 22 SIM cards and also learnt that the accused had opened 17 bank accounts in other’s names for monetary benefits,” said deputy commissioner of police Abhinav Deshmukh. (Image for representation)

The accused have been identified as Mohammed Ali Hidayatali Shaikh alias Soyeb, 22 and Salman Riyaz Hadnoor, 19. Shaikh is a resident of Vijaypur, while Hadnoor is from Bijapur, Karnataka.

“The victim had taken a personal loan of ₹2.94 lakh through an online app between October 2022 to February 2023 and after reducing processing fees and initial interest, the victim received a total amount of ₹1.95 lakh. The victim claimed to be paying the loan amount regularly and paid a total amount of ₹5.04 lakh,” said a police officer.

However, the accused – claimed to be the loan provider – continuously called him and threatened him to pay ₹1.95 lakh more in January and February this year, the police officer said, adding, “When the victim refused to pay the interest saying that he had paid almost double the amount he had loaned, the accused started threatening to defame him by uploading morphed nude pictures of the victim.”

The victim then approached LT Marg Police Station and filed a complaint. Shaikh and Hadnoor were booked under charges of cheating, forgery and other relevant sections of the IPC and IT Act.

“A police team investigated the case and after scrutinising the call data records and based on technical evidence managed to arrest the accused from Karnataka. During the search, police recovered 22 SIM cards and also learnt that the accused had opened 17 bank accounts in other’s names for monetary benefits,” said deputy commissioner of police Abhinav Deshmukh.

The accused were produced in court on Saturday and remanded to police custody for further interrogation.