Police said Deepak, who had dropped out of school in Class V, worked at a cellphone repairing shop in Rohtak and had knowledge of several apps that are used to hide a person’s identity while making calls.
He used one such app to change the country code of the number with which he would make random calls. If the call was picked by a woman, he would save the number. Deepak would then make WhatsApp video calls to that number, strip to nude in front of the woman receiving the call and either take a screenshot or record a video of the call.
He would then threaten to post the images or videos on social media and claim the women were in a relationship with him. Deepak wanted the women he targeted to participate in sex chats with him and also share their nude photos at times. Most of the women obliged and avoided approaching the cops, fearing social stigma.
This continued for almost two years. Deepak, however, ran out of luck when he dialled a 30-year-old women’s lawyer in Ghaziabad and threatened to post the screenshot of their call. He allegedly told her he would write on social media that the two had an affair and she forced him to strip in front of her.
“The woman had lodged a complaint at Kavi Nagar police station on August 20. She alleged that the accused had called her up on June 25 from different numbers that showed his location in South Korea and Philippines. He followed the same modus operandi to threaten her. But she took the right step by approaching the cops,” said Abhay Mishra, the cyber cell in-charge of Ghaziabad police.
Mishra explained that the app Deepak used would help him hide his original phone number. So, even if he called using a SIM card of Haryana, the number that would flash on the receiver’s screen would be of a foreign country. “He threatened to post the screenshots or videos of their calls on social media. His motive was to involve women in sex chats. Later, he would also force them to share their nude pictures. We have traced some of the victims. But they avoided going to the police for fear of social stigma,” the officer said.
When Deepak was picked up from his home in Rohtak, his phone had two SIM cards and contacts of around 550 women from various parts of the country.
He is believed to have told police he had faced several rejections in life and so yearned to talk to women. “All his life, he never had a girlfriend. In fact, he told us he was rejected by several women. So, he felt alone and devised a plan to blackmail women into participating in sex chats with him,” Mishra said.
Deepak has been booked under sections 354 (molestation) and 507 (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication) of the IPC and relevant provisions of the IT Act. “Setting display pictures, sharing photos and videos with strangers should be avoided. Any case of harassment and objectionable behaviour must be reported at 9643322906 without any hesitation. Women should not suffer in silence for any reason whatsoever,” Mishra said.
