Gurugram: 3 held for extorting ₹80L from 15-yr-old girl

Gurugram Police arrested four men for allegedly extorting ₹80 lakh from a 15-year-old girl by threatening to leak her objectionable photos on social media, which turned out to be morphed. At least five other suspects are still on the run, police said on Tuesday

The arrested accused were identified as Amit Kumar, 28, Khushal Kumar, 24, and Sumit Kataria, 25, from Hayatpur in Sector 93, and Sumit Tanwar, 24, from Kudhana in Mahendragarh. Amit was arrested on Tuesday night while rest three were nabbed over the weekend.Inspector Rambir Singh, station house officer of the Sector 10 police station, said, “The suspects had provided multiple account numbers to the girl via a social media platform for transferring money from her grandmother’s bank account.They had spent most of the amount on parties. They always took ₹1 lakh at a time from the girl,” he said.” 

The victim, a Class IX student living in Sector 10, managed her grandmother’s internet banking. Police said the elderly woman had recently sold a property and received ₹80 lakh in her account. Investigators believe the girl shared details about the money with her school friends, one of whom may have leaked her information to the accused, they added. 

The matter came to light on Saturday when the grandmother discovered her account had been drained of funds and approached the police. “It was only after being confronted by her parents and grandmother that the girl revealed the blackmailing,” said SHO Singh. 

The three accused were arrested on Sunday and produced before a city court on Monday. They were placed on four-day police remand for interrogation to trace the money trail and recover the amount. “The main suspect who initiated the extortion is yet to be arrested. He shared the victim’s details with the arrested men, who continued to extort her in a similar fashion,” Singh added. 

Efforts are underway to apprehend the remaining suspects and identify the school acquaintance who leaked the girl’s information to the extortionists, police said.