NEW DELHI, Oct 22: A case of extortionists filming intimate moments of couples in OYO hotel rooms to demand money from them later has been unearthed in Noida bordering with Delhi in Uttar Pradesh.
The police have arrested four persons in this connection and have unearthed huge quantity of incriminating documents from their possession while the fifth in the group is believed to be still absconding.
The police said four men were arrested by the Gautam Buddh Nagar police for their alleged involvement in planting hidden cameras at OYO rooms to blackmail couples and running illegal call centres. A case has been filed at Noida’s Phase 3 Police Station under IPC Sections 420 (cheating) 386 (extortion by fear of death/grievous hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation). The police also seized eleven laptops, seven CPUs, 21 mobiles, 22 ATM cards as well as other computer paraphernalia.
Preliminary probe suggests that hotel staff were not involved in the racket, they added. Members of the group allegedly booked rooms in OYO hotels and placed hidden cameras in the rooms before checking out, the police said. After a few days, they checked in again and took the cameras. They then contacted the targeted couple, police said.
The police identified the arrested accused as Vishnu Singh, Abdul Wahav, Pankaj Kumar and Anurag Kumar and claimed to have busted three different gangs in Noida.
The police said that Vishnu and Abdul were involved in secretly recording couples in OYO rooms and blackmailing them for money by threatening to release the videos. If the couples failed to cough up money, they would then threaten them with violence.
The SIM card and bank account used for the extortion was provided by Pankaj for Rs 15,000. Pankaj had done this along with his partner Saurabh, who is currently absconding. He also provided a SIM card and a bank account to Anurag.
Anurag in turn had set up illegal call centres to cheat victims on the pretext of selling iPhones at low prices through online marketplaces. The police said Anurag had been doing this for nearly two years and used to run three call centres. They estimated that he had cheated victims of crores of rupees.
ADCP (Central Noida) Saad Miya Khan said, “We had information that a person had recently stayed in a room with his female friend and a few days later, a video of their private moment was sent to him along with demands for money. The accused had booked the same room a few days before and had installed the camera. Whenever a couple was seen on the camera, they would profile them and send them their intimate videos on their social media accounts and phones.”
(Manas Dasgupta)
