Woman, aide held for extorting social worker

Mumbai: A woman and her aide have been arrested for allegedly extorting money from a 35-year-old social worker

Mumbai: A woman and her aide have been arrested for allegedly extorting money from a 35-year-old social worker.

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According to the police, the complainant, a Borivali resident, received a Facebook request from one Priyanka Vaidya, 30, in June 2022. Later on, they exchanged phone numbers in July and met at a function in September 2022.

Following this, the frequency of Vaidya’s messages to him increased and the content of the messages made him uncomfortable. The man told her that he did not want to talk to her anymore and stopped responding to her, a police officer said. Over the next three months, Vaidya sent hundreds of messages to the victim saying that she was in love with him.

“Vaidya even started wearing a mangalsutra and changed her name on her Facebook profile, adopting the victim’s surname. When the man asked her to change it, she demanded money. She further said that she would register a false complaint of sexual exploitation against him,” the officer added.

Between December 2022 and January 2023, Vaidya allegedly took ₹8 lakh from the victim. Her accomplice, identified as Raju Pujari, was present as a middleman when the transaction took place.

The social worker had already borrowed heavily from his friends to pay the initial amount and hence, could not pay her any further. Vaidya then started calling up the victim’s friends, telling them to convince him to pay up.

When the victim met the woman next time, he took along his friends, who recorded videos of her threatening him. The victim then approached the Kasturba Marg police on January 11 this year, after which an FIR was registered.

“We have arrested Vaidya and Pujari from their residences in Borivali on January 16. Inquiries so far indicate that she had targeted at least five men in a similar manner but they never registered a complaint for fear of being defamed. We are trying to reach out to them,” the officer said.