Two arrested in Noida for extorting money from same sex people

The complaint in this case was registered by a 20-year-old man at the Phase 2 police station on Thursday, police said

Two men were arrested in Noida on Friday for targeting people on a same-sex social networking application and blackmailing and extorting money from them, police said. The suspects recorded videos of their victims engaging in sex acts and threatened to publish them on social media platforms if they did not pay up, said police.

The suspects were identified as Kishore Singh, 22, from Bulandshahr, and Deepak Kumar, 20, from Noida Sector 39. Deepak is a law student in Noida while Kishore is a Class 12 dropout. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

The complaint in this case was registered by a 20-year-old man at the Phase 2 police station on Thursday, police said.

“The suspects were identified as Kishore Singh, 22, from Bulandshahr, and Deepak Kumar, 20, from Noida Sector 39. Deepak is a law student in Noida while Kishore is a Class 12 dropout,” said Vindyachal Tiwari, station house officer, Phase 2.

“The complainant told us that he came in contact with the two suspects through a dating application for same-sex people. The suspects called the victim to meet at their place and secretly recorded him engaging in sex acts,” said SHO Tiwari. The suspects then blackmailed the victim to pay ₹30,000 cash and a gold necklace or else they would publish the video on social media platforms.

The victim approached the police and filed a complaint. “Based on his complaint, a case under Section 308(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered, and the suspects were traced with the help of electronic surveillance,” said Shakti Mohan Avasthy, deputy commissioner of police, Central Noida.

“During investigation, it was revealed that the suspects had been operating for the past six months and had targeted 12 people. They also took premium subscriptions to three same-sex social networking application platforms to connect with their targets,” he added.

Police found more videos on the suspects’ mobile phones and further investigation is underway.