Haryana BJP leader files complaint alleging ‘sextortion’ attempt by unknown person

Kamal Yadav, a resident of Gurgaon, said the accused screen-recorded a video call made to him and edited his photo on to “vulgar” clips.

An offence under relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act was registered on Sunday based on a complaint lodged by one of the victims. (File photo)

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A state executive member of the BJP’s Haryana unit filed a police complaint in Gurgaon alleging that an unknown caller allegedly morphed his photo into “nude and vulgar videos” and attempted to extort money from him by threatening to circulate the clips on social media, officers said.

In the police complaint, Kamal Yadav, a resident of Gurgaon, said that around 9 pm on Thursday, he got a video call on WhatsApp from an unknown number. “I picked it up and when I found an unknown woman was on the other side of the call, I disconnected the call. After a few minutes, I started getting calls and messages from the same woman. She screen-recorded the call and edited my photo with some nude and vulgar videos,” he said in the FIR.

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The complainant further alleged that he had been getting multiple calls in which the caller sought “extortion money” and threatened him and his family. Police said the complainant added that the accused had been threatening to circulate the video and make it viral on social media platforms.

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A police officer said, “The accused are yet to be traced and our teams are working to identify them. Such ‘sextortion’ crimes are quite prevalent where the accused trap unsuspecting victims by making a video call from an unknown number and then morphing the victim’s photo after screen recording the call. The accused then blackmail the victim by extorting money and threatening to send the edited video to their family or relatives. Often people do not report such incidents due to fear or societal pressure.”

A case was registered against the accused under sections 384 (punishment for extortion) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and section 67A (punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act, etc, in electronic form) of the IT Act at the cybercrime police station, officers said.

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