24-year-old nabbed for blackmailing 100 girls

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police have arrested a 24-year-old man who allegedly threatened to defame women and girls by creating their fake Facebook profiles and uploading

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police have arrested a 24-year-old man who allegedly threatened to defame women and girls by creating their fake Facebook profiles and uploading obscene photos and remarks on them.

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Police said the accused, identified as Akhilesh Kumar, a resident of Bakkarwala in Delhi, had created more than 100 fake Facebook profiles of different women after befriending them through fake profiles and tricking them into sharing their mobile numbers and photographs. He later used their mobile numbers and photographs for blackmailing these women.

Kumar, police said, was nabbed on Tuesday after investigation into a complaint filed by a Maurya Enclave resident. The complainant has alleged that her minor daughter was being harassed and blackmailed through Facebook messenger by an unknown person.

“She alleged that the suspect had also created a fake Facebook page in her daughter’s name. Her mobile number and photograph were also uploaded on the page with obscene titles,” said Vijay Singh, deputy commissioner of police (northwest).

“During interrogation, Kumar confessed to have been involved in such crime for over one-and-ahalf-years. A mobile phone containing the contact numbers of around 100 girls was recovered from Kumar’s possession. He used different e-mail IDs and SIM cards for creating fake Facebook profiles/pages of victims,” Singh said. The seized mobile phone has been sent to a forensic lab to extract information on deleted data.

Explaining Kumar’s modus operandi, the DCP said he created fake Facebook profiles posing as a girl. “He would then randomly send friend requests to girls and women. Once his friendship request was accepted, he would send friendly messages and seek their personal details such as contact number, residential addresses and photographs,” the DCP said.

According to investigators, Kumar often tried to meet the girls and might have even succeeded in meeting a few after disclosing his original identity. If a girl refused to meet him or if his friendship request was not accepted, he would create her fake profile and post her personal details with obscene comments or title so as to defame and malign her image.

“He even blackmailed women by threatening to put their fake profiles on their school’ s Facebook page. He had demanded money in some cases,” the officer said.