Delhi Man Blackmailed Ex-Girlfriend For Protein Powder Money, Arrested

A man allegedly tried to extort money from a 19-year-old woman he was previously in a relationship with by threatening to circulate her private photos on social media, officials said on Saturday.

The accused told the police during interrogation that he joined a gym recently and needed money to purchase imported protein powder and other supplements.

The Delhi Police arrested two people for attempting to extort money from the woman and her father, they said.

One of the accused - also a teenager - was in a relationship with the woman previously but they had broken up, the police said. He created an anonymous social media handle to threaten her, they said.

"A complaint was received in the cyber police station through the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal from a 19-year-old woman. She told the police that she had been receiving threatening messages on her social media accounts from an anonymous person,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (north) Manoj Kumar Meena said.

“She told the police that the accused was threatening to circulate her private pictures if she did not pay up," Mr Meena said.

The accused then informed her father, who also received the same threats, the police said.

After receiving an official complaint, an FIR was registered and an investigation was launched.

"Our investigation found that the location from where the fake ID was created was Ashok Vihar. Later our team arrested one Govind (22) on December 6," the DCP said. Govind named the other accused - Ansh Sharma - who was also arrested the same day, he said.

The police said that during interrogation Ansh Sharma disclosed that he had known the complainant since she was in Class 6 through common friends.

Both came in touch with each other through social media in 2020, the police said, adding that they fell into an online romantic relationship and exchanged their Instagram passwords. However, they soon broke up, the police said.

The accused then logged into her social media profile and while going through her messages found some private photos in a chat, they said.

"He downloaded those photos and sent them to Govind. Ansh Sharma then created an anonymous account on social media and started blackmailing the woman. Mobile phones of both the accused have been recovered and seized,” the DCP said.

The private photos of the woman were found on Ansh Sharma's mobile phone and the anonymous social media account was recovered, the police said.

“Sharma told police that he had recently joined the gym. He needed money to purchase imported protein powder and other supplements for bodybuilding," DCP Meena further said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)