Jaipur:
Rajasthan Police on Tuesday arrested an accused in the infamous 1992 Ajmer sex scandal case in which over 100 schoolgirls were blackmailed with their photographs in compromising positions, officials said.
The girls were allegedly sexually exploited by a group of about 18 blackmailers.
The state police's Special Operations Group (SOG) arrested Saiyed Saleem Chishty, 42, from Khalid Mohalla in Ajmer town, some 150 km from Jaipur.
"Chisty is an accused in the 1992 case of blackmailing some schoolgirls in Ajmer. The victims were lured into coming to farm houses on the outskirts of the town at different times. They were sexually exploited and photographs with their being in compromising positions were shot by a gang of criminals," Additional Director General of Police (SOG) Kapil Garg told reporters here.
The girls were then blackmailed on the basis of these photographs and were forced to repeatedly visit the farm houses.
"Chishty, who was one of the men who blackmailed these girls, carried a cash reward of Rs 25,000 on his head. We came to know that he was hiding in Ajmer. A trap was laid and he was nabbed on Tuesday morning," said the officer.
About 11 others have already been arrested in the case. Seven of them were sentenced to life imprisonment by a court, the officer said.
"Chishty has told us that he was hiding in Bangladesh and Mumbai before he came to Ajmer recently. He has been booked under various section of IPC (Indian Penal Code) and those of the Indecent Representation of Women Act," said the officer.
Chishty will be produced in court today.