On 20 January 2025, Puducherry’s cybercrime police arrested a 30-year-old man for allegedly blackmailing a minor girl with morphed images of her and pressuring her into participating in nude video calls. The police stated that the man had extorted money from several women by coercing them into appearing nude on video calls.
Senior Superintendent of Police Narra Chaitanya explained that the accused, S. Mujep Ali, from Thirumakottai in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvarur district, used fake social media profiles to befriend women and minors. He would then manipulate them into participating in nude video calls, secretly recording the footage and using it to extort money.
The case came to light when the parents of a minor girl in Puducherry filed a complaint, stating that after the man befriended their daughter, he sent her a morphed photo of her in a nude pose when she refused to meet his demands. The cybercrime police registered a case under sections 351(3) of the BNS, Section 14 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, and Section 67(B) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. A team was immediately deployed to locate the suspect.
The accused contacted the minor girl, claiming he was in Cuddalore, and threatened to post the morphed photos online unless she met him. The girl’s parents alerted the police, who sent a team in plain clothes to the designated spot and arrested him. Police officer revealed that the accused had been engaged in similar criminal activities since 2020. Authorities confiscated his mobile phone, which contained explicit photos and videos of over 15 women. He further advised women and girls to refrain from befriending strangers on social media platforms in order to protect themselves from falling victim to such crimes.
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