Mobile thief booked for blackmailing phone owner

MUMBAI: The Vanrai police has registered an extortion case against an unidentified man for allegedly blackmailing 25-year-old Ajay Kumar Jha who works with a food delivery app. The accused stole Jha’s phone containing intimate photos and videos with his wife on July 3 and called him on July 26, threatening to make the photos and videos public if he was not paid ₹1 lakh.
According to the police, Jha, who lives with his wife in Goregaon East, has been working with a food delivery app for over five months. On July 3, when he was on his way to deliver a consignment in Andheri East, his mobile phone, which was kept on the mobile stand on his bike for directions, was stolen.
On July 26, he received a call from a man who introduced himself as Ahmed Khan alias Noor Khan. The caller told Jha that he was in possession of the latter’s memory card, which had photos and videos of him and his wife and demanded ₹1 lakh to destroy the same. He also threatened to post the photos and videos online if the amount was not paid.
Jha received another call from the person on July 30 and met him at a bar in Vakola in Santacruz East, as per his instructions. When the duo met, the accused showed Jha that he had forwarded the photos and videos to a friend.
“Khan told me that if I did not agree to give him ₹1 lakh, he would sell the content for ₹2 lakh and get them posted online. I got scared and agreed to pay him, but asked him for 10 days’ time to arrange the cash,” Jha told the police in his complaint.
The Vanrai police subsequently registered an FIR based on his complaint, booking the accused under section 308 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
“We are trying to identify and trace the accused with the help of CCTV footage from the bar,” said an officer from Vanrai police station.