New Delhi
Delhi Police on Friday arrested a 25-year-old man who they claimed had created multiple fake social media accounts of a 13-year-old girl, where he uploaded her morphed photographs and used them to blackmail her for sexual favours.
The suspect, identified as Bharat Khatar, worked at an event management company and was allegedly miffed after having been told off by the 13-year-old earlier for abusing her friend, who too is a minor.
“Khatar is a serial offender, who often targeted women and girls. His interrogation has revealed that he has abused and blackmailed at least six other women so far. In one of those cases, a minor girl had approached the cyber cell of Faridabad Police last year to allege that Khatar had morphed her photos, uploaded them online and was blackmailing her. He was later arrested in that case also,” said Atul Kumar Thakur, deputy commissioner of police (south).
The precise details of his past involvements in such cases are being looked into, Thakur said, adding that two mobile phones allegedly belonging to Khatar have been sent for forensic examination.
The present complaint against Khatar was made by the13-year-old’s mother at Kotla Mubarakpur police station last month after she got to know that her daughter was being blackmailed.
{{/usCountry}}The present complaint against Khatar was made by the13-year-old’s mother at Kotla Mubarakpur police station last month after she got to know that her daughter was being blackmailed.
{{/usCountry}}During the probe, police got to know that the whole incident started after the girl’s 15-year-old friend came in contact with Khatar online. “They got chatting and later exchanged numbers. However, Khatar later allegedly started trying to have obscene chats with her. This led to a heated exchange between them,” said the DCP.
Later, when the 13-year-old girl got to know of this, she got in touch with Khatar and warned him against it.
“Khatar then wanted revenge against the 13-year-old for having confronted him. So, he created three fake social media profiles, morphed her photographs, and uploaded them on those accounts. When the girl got to know of this and demanded that the accounts be deleted, he demanded sexual favours from her in return. The girl then went and told her mother everything, after which she approached the police with a complaint,” the DCP said.
After receiving the complaint last month, investigators tracked down the IP address from which the fake accounts were created. That led them to Khatar who was arrested from his home in NIT Faridabad on Thursday, the DCP said.
The officer said that Khatar would habitually create fake accounts on social media and use them to contact girls and women. He would then allegedly start morphing their images and blackmailing them.