Pune, Oct 29: Two men have been arrested from Bihar for allegedly blackmailing a 22-year-old employee of a reputed IT company in Pune through fake social media accounts and extorting Rs 1.77 lakh from him, leading to his suicide, police said on Thursday.
Victim Shikhar Kumargaurav Saxena stayed in a paying guest accommodation in Kharadi. On October 1, he jumped to his death from the 27th floor of the Riverdale Suite Society building in the area.
Saxena’s father, Kumargaurav, lodged a complaint with the police on October 14. He alleged that a person identifying himself as Ajaykumar Bhatia had threatened to implicate his son in a false drug trafficking case. The person repeatedly called Saxena, demanded money and subjected him to mental harassment, his father alleged.
During the probe, police arrested Akashkumar Sanjay Singh (18) and Rajkumar Sampurna Anand Singh (22) in Patna on October 21 for their alleged role in the crime. Seven mobile phones, a laptop and a tablet, collectively valued at Rs 2.22 lakh, were seized from them, said officials.
The two were produced before a Pune court, which remanded them in police custody until October 30.
According to police, the accused had created fake Instagram accounts in the names of women who followed the ‘RVCJ INSTA’ page and used those to contact Saxena. They subsequently persuaded him to communicate through Telegram. During a video call, an objectionable video of a woman was shown and recorded.
The accused allegedly used the recording to blackmail Saxena and threatened to implicate him in a false drug case. The investigation showed that he was forced to transfer a total of Rs 1.77 lakh to five different bank accounts, police said.
The police traced the financial transactions and managed to freeze Rs 1,14,498 of the extorted amount, said officials.
Police are searching for Aniket Gupta from Ludhiana in Punjab and Krish Kumar from Arunachal Pradesh, who allegedly received the extorted money, along with other suspects in the case. Senior inspector Sanjay Chavan of Kharadi police station is conducting further investigation. (PTI)
