FB FRIEND EXTORTS RS 80K FROM CITY GIRL, HELD FROM VARANASI

A Varanasi youth befriended a city girl on Facebook, and lured her into sending her photographs and later started blackmailing her by morphing the photographs. The girl, a resident of Ghatlodia, is said to be the relative of a BJP worker. The youth, who is in Crime Branch custody right now, allegedly extracted Rs 80,000 from the girl's family. "The girl accepted Varanasi- based Ashutosh Gupta's friend request.

After a few months' friendship, the girl decided to call it quits. But Gupta got annoyed and he started blackmailing her by sending her morphed photographs. A scared girl also mentioned her relative's political connection to rid of him. But nothing worked and the youth continued to blackmail her," said a Crime Branch cop. The girl then broke her silence and discussed the issue with the family that planned to end the matter without involving the police.

"The family called Gupta for a one-to-one meeting in Ahmedabad wherein he demanded Rs1 lakh to stop harassing the girl. After negotiation, the family agreed to pay Rs 80,000 to him," the cop said. However, the accused did not mend his way. After a few days, he again started threatening. But this time the target was the girl's mother. "The accused would send her the girl's photographs, threatening to make them public.

The family eventually decided to approach the cyber cell of Crime Branch and filed a police complaint," said the policemen. Acting on the complaint, DCB nabbed Gupta from Varanasi. "The accused would be produced in the court for his further remand," the cop said. Gupta is an educated youth from Varanasi and has been very active on social networking sites. The DCB is investigating if Gupta had approached other women and blackmailing them.