23-year-old civil engineer from Bengaluru extorted of ₹1.2 lakh, complaint filed: Report

A 23-year-old civil engineer from Bengaluru contacted a “call girl”, who along with her five associates allegedly extorted ₹1.2 lakh from him.

In yet another extortion case, a civil engineer from Bengaluru was robbed of ₹1.2 lakh by a gang of six by way of blackmail. The incident occurred in the city's Chandra Layout police station limits, when the civil engineer, aged 23 years, contacted a “call girl” in January end.

The girl, Sindhu alias Shreya, along with her associate Nagaraj and four others extorted ₹1.2 lakh from the man between February 2 and April 4. (File)

The girl, Sindhu alias Shreya, along with her associate Nagaraj and four others extorted ₹1.2 lakh from the man between February 2 and April 4, The Times of India reported.

The man found the girl's number on the internet and called her. The girl introduced herself as Sindhu from Mysuru, and engaged in conversation with him, gradually progressing from messages and phone calls to video calls over a period of one-and-a-half months. During these video calls, Sindhu persuaded him to undress and pose nude. She recorded him without his knowledge during these calls.

Sindhu then arranged a meeting with the 23-year-old on February 25 at an apartment in Maruthi Nagar, Chandra Layout. The engineer arrived at around 6pm, only to find Sindhu absent. Instead, she contacted him over the phone and disclosed that she had recorded the video calls wherein he had posed nude, and proceeded to demand ransom. She provided him with a QR code for the payment, which indicated the account holder's name as Nagaraj.

Shortly, the man transferred ₹21,650 to the account. Despite the encounter, the two kept up their communications. She asked him to meet her at the same apartment on April 4 once again. The man reached the location at around 10am, however, he was in for a surprise as four young men arrived around 15 mins later instead of the girl.

They threatened to leak his video calls and demanded ₹1 lakh. The man, left with no other choice, decided to sell his father's gold chain for ₹2 lakh and paid off the miscreants, making sure they deleted the videos from their devices.

However, the man's parents noticed that the gold chain was missing on April 11, and questioned him, following which he narrated the ordeal. On his parents' advice, the man approached police and filed a complaint the next day.

A senior officer said a case has been registered case under the Information Technology Act, alongside IPC Sections 506 (criminal intimidation) and 384 (extortion). “We are trying to nab the miscreants with the help of the mobile numbers and bank details,” he told the publication.