Bengaluru Sextortion Racket Busted: Over 50 Men Blackmailed, Extorted At Least Rs 35 Lakh

A sextortion racket was busted in Bengaluru by the Karnataka Police where a woman lured in men and extorted huge sums of money from them.

Three members of the gang were arrested, however, the woman — the main accused — is yet to be caught.

The key accused, identified as Neha alias Meher — along with her accomplices — allegedly contacted men via Telegram, a messaging platform, and invited them to her residence for sexual activities.

Meher’s accomplices would record a video of her indulging in sexual activities with the men and later blackmail the victims with the video recording, said an India Today report.

The victims were blackmailed with the demand of either marrying Meher and converting to Islam or paying her money.

The gang, so far, extorted over Rs 35 lakh through blackmailing and this criminal activity reportedly ran for over a year and a half.

So far, the police have recovered Rs 60,000 from the gang wherein payments were made via Paytm, a digital payment platform.

Reportedly, the police have traced Meher’s location to Mumbai.

The extent of the gang’s extortion is still being probed, but currently, it is believed that over 50 men have been extorted.

An FIR, at the Puttenhalli Police Station, was registered under Section 348 (Wrongful confinement to extort confession) and Section 420 (Cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.

Investigators are looking into the possible angle of victims being forced to undergo a procedure of circumcision as part of the gang’s tactics to threaten them.

Earlier, on August 9, the Uttar Pradesh police busted a sextortion racket and arrested six men in UP’s Kanpur. The racket was operating via fake profiles on a gay dating app called ‘Blued’, police said.

The accused would engage the men in friendly conversations and later take them out on a date, following which they would indulge in sexual activities and record the encounter.

They would then rob them of their valuables and transfer money from their bank accounts through UPI using their phone by threatening to circulate the videos on social media, said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (west) Lakhan Singh Yadav.

A case was registered at the Kalyanpur police station after one of the victims approached the police with the information that his nude video was recorded by some people and he was blackmailed. Following the case being filed, an investigation was launched into the gang leading to the bust.