According to police, the girl’s father had registered a case under Section 12 of POCSO and sections 66E, 67 and 67B of the IT Act after she confided in him about receiving messages from her former tutor claiming that he had found nude photographs of the girl online.

“He sent her a phishing link which required her Facebook credentials. Upon logging in, the accused hacked her account and coerced the victim to share obscene images under fear and deception,” said DCP Crime (Aditya Gautam). He added that Kumar would send her manipulated images and threaten to circulate them online if she didn’t pay him money.

While investigating the case, police said that they discovered that Kumar is a habitual offender who had been arrested for a similar case that had been registered in Malviya Nagar police station in 2020.

“….he contacted women falsely claiming that their explicit photos had leaked online. He then shared phishing links, obtained their social media credentials, hacked their accounts, impersonated them and extorted money,” said DCP Gautam.

The police team carried out extensive manual intelligence collection and technical analysis to locate Kumar, officers said.

Story continues below this ad

On Saturday, police zeroed in on his location in Noida’s Sector 128. He was subsequently apprehended from a liquor shop in Shahpur village, officers said.

According to the police, during questioning, Kumar allegedly admitted to fleeing to his native village in Bihar after securing bail in February 2021.

After almost three years since jumping bail, he started working as a housekeeper supervisor in Noida, hoping the Delhi Police could not track him, said officers. “He further admitted that his motive behind committing such crimes was to earn easy money by extortion and blackmailing girls online,” said DCP Gautam.

From the homepage