The mobile used in commission of crime was also recovered from the accused. (Representational)
A 20-year-old man was arrested from Rajasthan for allegedly extorting money from people by threatening to make their obscene video chats public, officials said on Tuesday.
The matter came to light after one of the victims filed a complaint alleging that he received a video call on WhatsApp from an unknown number. The caller, a woman and accomplice of the accused, started an obscene video chat and recorded it, police said.
The accused, Mustkeem, hailing from Alwar, Rajasthan, then called the victim posing as a police officer from Pune and told him that the caller had committed suicide and his number was found in her call logs, they said.
He told the victim that he would be charged with abetment to suicide and asked him to come to Pune and contact his colleague -- sub-inspector Vikram Rathore.
Vikram Rathore asked the victim to deposit Rs 18 lakh in two bank accounts to settle the case.
However, after depositing the money, the victim got another call from a man who introduced himself as a CBI officer wanting to meet him in Mumbai.
The victim again contacted Vikram Rathore who asked him to pay Rs 3 lakh more to deal with the CBI officer. The complainant then decided to approach police.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) M Harsha Vardhan said, "During the investigation, call detail records and details of mobile numbers were obtained. One mobile phone was found active in Alwar and we conducted a raid and the accused person was apprehended."
The mobile used in commission of crime was also recovered from him, he said.
"During interrogation, accused Mustkeem disclosed that he is a part of an online cheating gang who pose as officials of law enforcement agencies. They made obscene video calls to people and later blackmailed them," he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)