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Journalism of Courage
Tushar Bisht was a seemingly normal 23-year-old with a BBA degree who worked as a recruiter for a Noida-based private company. His father was a driver, mother a homemaker, and sister an employee of a Gurugram-based MNC. Last month, however, Bisht was arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly extorting women by threatening to expose their private pictures.
According to the police, using a fake identity, Bisht had cheated more than 700 women on multiple dating sites.
With the help of a virtual international number, the police said, Bisht created fake profiles on a number of dating and social media apps like Bumble and Snapchat. He used a “chiselled Brazilian model’s photos and videos” to pose as an American freelance model who often visits Delhi for work.
“He used to send friend requests to women in the age group of 18 to 30 years on Bumble dating app. If the girl accepted his request, he would befriend them and start chatting,” said Vichitra Veer, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West).
After winning the trust of his potential victims, Bisht would ask for their nude photographs and video clips, the DCP added.
“Many women agreed to his demands and would send their nude videos and pictures. Once the accused received the photos and videos, he used to save the videos or photos through screen recording,” DCP Veer further said.
Initially just an amusement exercise, Bisht saw the extortion potential in his scam. He then allegedly started demanding money from the women, threatening to expose their private videos or sell them on the dark web if they did not oblige. Most victims gave in to his demands until one of the victims had enough of his blackmail.
On December 13, a 2nd-year Delhi University student lodged a complaint at Cyber police station (West district), alleging that a ‘US-based model’ was blackmailing her by threatening to leak her private videos. Initially, the victim panicked and met some of the demands of the accused. But he kept demanding more money.
After the complaint was filed, a team was formed under SHO (Cyber West) Dharmendra and based on technical surveillance, Bisht was arrested in the Shakarpur area of Delhi. A mobile phone containing intimate videos of his victims, and 13 credit cards, among others, were seized, the police said.
“Two bank accounts were also found in his name, one of which showed transactions from the victims,” DCP Veer said.
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