In a joint operation, the Cyber Crime and the Disha Mahila Police arrested an online offender, who allegedly hacked the social media accounts of about 20 girls, blackmailed and took their nude videos.
The accused, Bhimini Ganesh, native of Kondrapalli village, Nagar Kurnool district of Telangana State, also duped many boys and collected money from them after sending the obscene videos of some victims. The victims were from different places including Visakhapatnam, Krishna and other district in the two Telugu States.
“We are trying to find out on how many victims were trapped by Ganesh in the last one year, from which States and any other crimes he involved,” said Krishna district Superintendent of Police P. Jashua.
Following a complaint lodged by a girl student in ‘Spandana Programme’, two days ago Mr. Jashua formed special teams with Cyber Crime, Disha Mahila Police, Central Crime Station (CCS) and the Gudur police.
“With the help of one of the victim, police formed a decoy party and made the accused to walk up to Machilipatnam. CCS Dy. SP Murali Krishna, Disha Mahila Police Station CI Naresh Kumar, SI Md. Mastan Khan and IT Core Team SI, Deepika laid a trap and arrested the accused while he was collecting money from the girl,” the SP told the media at a press conference here on Wednesday.
“The modus operandi of the accused is to collect the profile photos of some selected girls after hacking their social media groups. He will collect the personal details including some photos and contact numbers, and create them as call girls. Later, Ganesh will call the victims and ask them to make video calls nudely, failing which he will post their morphed photographs on some platforms,” the SP said.
When the victim bowed to his pressure and make nude video calls as per his demand, the accused will record it and insist her to make sexual discussion. He will record the video calls and voice of the trapped girls.
“Later, Ganesh will demand money blackmailing the victims to post their videos and send their sexual content to her family members and others. Many victims transferred money to his accounts online,” Mr. Jashua said.
The fraudster have sent the videos of some girls to a few boys and made money. Police seized his mobile phones, Rs. 3 lakh cash and other material, said Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Venkata Ramanjaneyulu.
“With the help of one of the victim, police formed a decoy party and made the accused to walk up to Machilipatnam. CCS Dy. SP Murali Krishna, Disha Mahila Police Station CI Naresh Kumar, SI Md. Mastan Khan and IT Core Team SI, Deepika laid a trap and arrested the accused while he was collecting money from the girl,” the SP explained.
Ganesh, a degree discontinued candidate, was working in an online marketing firm. Many victims suffered much torture and harassment from the accused, said the SP adding that the police are probing on whether Ganesh sexually exploited the girls after trapping them.
