Daijiworld Media Newtork - Mumbai
Mumbai, Dec 19: Malad police have arrested four persons, including a woman, for allegedly blackmailing a 37-year-old choreographer by threatening to make an obscene video of him viral unless he paid Rs 9 lakh.
According to police, the choreographer, a Malad resident, received a WhatsApp call from an unknown number on December 15. The caller claimed to possess a nude video of him and demanded money, threatening to circulate the clip if the amount was not paid. The video was subsequently sent to the complainant and later shared again from another number on Instagram.
To further intimidate him, the accused allegedly forwarded the video to the choreographer’s nephew and one of his employees. Police said the accused were aware that the complainant lived with his elder brother and feared him, and they threatened to send the clip to him and other relatives as well.
Out of fear, the complainant initially agreed to pay and managed to negotiate the amount down to Rs 6 lakh. However, he later approached Malad police, following which a first information report (FIR) was registered in the early hours of December 16 under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Police then laid a trap and arrested Anmol Raj Arora (21), Lucky Santosh Verma (20), Himanshu Yogesh Kumar (23), and Dipali Vinod Singh (30), all of whom are aspiring actors. Police said Arora and Verma were the main accused in the case.
An officer said the complainant and the accused knew each other well. Arora, who had been learning dance from the choreographer for nearly two years, allegedly recorded the obscene video at the complainant’s house. Verma, Kumar and Singh were later roped into the extortion plan.
As part of the trap, the complainant was asked to meet the accused near Vivek College in Goregaon. Singh approached him to collect the cash, but the complainant insisted on first receiving the mobile phone on which the video was recorded. Singh then contacted the other accused and asked them to bring the phone to the spot.
When Verma and Kumar arrived with the mobile phone containing the video, police apprehended them. During interrogation, it emerged that Arora had recorded the clip, following which he was arrested later.
Senior Inspector Dushyant Chauhan confirmed the arrests and said further investigation is underway.