Online extortion racket: 5 held with 89 SIM cards, 20 mobile handsets

On reaching Kolkata we identified a 2-bedroom-hall-kitchen flat from where the gang was operating. We raided the flat and seized all the material including the equipment used for the commission of the crime. We also seized cash of ₹6.76 lakh from the accused and a Royal Enfield Bullet, said cops

Mumbai: Five people were arrested for running an online extortion racket from Kolkata. The RAK Marg police said that they had registered an FIR after a Garment trader from Sewri became a victim of the racket and was coerced to pay ₹30 lakh to the frauds. The police are also searching for one female who is from Jamtara in Jharkhand and is believed to be the leader of the gang.

Online extortion racket: 5 held with 89 SIM cards, 20 mobile handsets

The police seized 3 laptops, 20 mobile phones, 89 SIM cards, 7 ATM cards and several videos from the accused.

The garment trader had complained in October this year, alleging that the gang extorted an amount of ₹30 lakh from him by using some of his photos and videos in compromising positions.

“As we started the investigation, we found that the victim had sent money to 5 different bank accounts and the accused had used 28 SIM cards to withdraw the money from the bank accounts. In investigations, we came to know they were operating from Kolkata. Accordingly, a team of API Kamlesh Kusalkar and API Annasaheb Gadekar was sent to Kolkata,” said Kumud Kadam, senior police inspector of RAK Marg police station.

“On reaching Kolkata we identified a 2-bedroom-hall-kitchen flat from where the gang was operating. We raided the flat and seized all the material including the equipment used for the commission of the crime. We also seized cash of ₹6.76 lakh from the accused and a Royal Enfield Bullet,” said Kusalkar.

The police said they arrested Chandramani Singh, 27, Sonu Hela 26, Suraj Singh, 27, Shubham Rai, 22, and Moni Jaiswal, 23.

“The accused are from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal and the main accused is from Jamtara and is still at large. She has trained the other members of the gang. The woman used to befriend people on dating apps, then chat with them on WhatsApp after obtaining their mobile numbers and then make video calls to them. She would ask the victims to undress and record their videos,” said Gadekar.

Once they had the nude video and pictures of the complainant, the other accused would call the complainant under different pretexts and extort money by threatening to leak his video or upload it on social media. They also used to pretend as cops saying the woman had lodged a case with them or that she had committed suicide etc.,” said Kusalkar.

The police said they have got police custody of the accused till December 20.

“We have found several videos from them of other people and are trying to get in touch to see if they have registered any complaints. We have already seized 70 SIM cards, 20 mobiles and three laptops used by the accused,” said Gadekar.

The police said Rai provided the bank accounts and SIM cards to the gang and used to take 10 to 20% of the extortion money as his commission. Others, who threatened the victims, used to get 20 per cent,” said the police officer.