Extortion ring on pretext of ‘massage service’ busted in Delhi, couple held

The elderly victim had been lured by the accused on pretext of a “massage service”, police said.

A 25-year-old man and a woman were arrested for extorting money from a 62-year-old man by threatening to leak his “objectionable” pictures, police said on Friday. The elderly victim had been lured by the accused on pretext of a “massage service”, police said.

Police said the three accused had extorted ₹3 lakh in cash and ₹4.5 lakh in cheques from the 62-year-old man. (Yogesh Kumar/ Hindustan Times)

The elderly man, who claimed to be an IIT Delhi graduate, filed an extortion case with the Delhi Police’s crime branch on Wednesday and alleged that he was being blackmailed by three persons, including two women, and they were demanding ₹10 lakh from him, police said.

The victim alleged that three accused had already extorted ₹3 lakh in cash and cheques worth ₹4.5 lakh in their favour from him. The arrested man was identified as Shadab Gowhar, hailing from Kashmir.

Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Ram Gopal Naik said, “The arrested couple has confessed to have committed several other extortion attempts.”

The victim said he came across a website that offered body massage services at desired locations by male masseuse. He said he selected the profile of a man who claimed to be Armaan Sharma. Police officials said Gowhar was posing as Armaan Sharma. They met at a shopping mall in east Delhi on September 8 after which Gowhar took the victim to a guest house in Ghaziabad for the massage, said police. Gowhar provided him the massage and took a payment of ₹8,000. Gowhar then demanded another ₹3,000 from him, saying he was facing financial crisis. The man transferred that amount into his account.

On September 18, the DCP said, Gowhar then lured the victim for another massage. During the second massage, two women allegedly assaulted him and threatened to release his nude pictures and videos to his family if he did not pay them ₹10 lakh.

Naik said they took ₹3 lakh and asked him to arrange the remaining amount. On Thursday, the complainant called the extortionists over to a shopping mall in Saket where they were nabbed.