A 26-year-old man has been arrested on charges of blackmailing and extorting money from more than 100 women by doctoring their pictures and threatening to post them on social media, the Delhi Police said on Wednesday.
According to the police, the accused has been identified as Sumit Jha, who used to download and alter profile pictures of women from their social media accounts.
"He would create fake profiles on the same social media platform, and send threatening messages to the women that their nude pictures would be posted online unless they paid money," Atul Thakur, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South district) said in a media statement on Wednesday.
He added that the matter only came to light when a female bank manager complained about online harassment and extortion threats of having her nude picture uploaded onto her Instagram account.
"The accused demanded money from the complainant and her contacts on social media. He was using Voiceover Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls through WhatsApp and other apps to avoid detection", the police officer added.
However, thanks to co-operation from the service provider and secret information, Jha was arrested on Tuesday.
During the interrogation, he said that when his targets asked for proof he would send them their doctored picture to threaten them. Later, he demanded money and pictures of his targeted victims' private parts.
Jha has been arrested under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act. He had previously been arrested by Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh Police in 2018.
