A head constable from Vasai police station became the driver of a cab aggregator to arrest an alleged sextortionist who had lured a woman with a modelling offer for an international sports brand. Accused Abu Salim Atikur Rehman Ansari, 19, is a school dropout and is suspected to have abused more than half a dozen women, said the police, urging citizens to take care while dealing with strangers online.
The 22-year-old woman, who works as an accountant in a private firm, approached the Vasai police with her mother on January 22, alleging harassment by Ansari. The complainant alleged that she was stalked online first and later the accused began demanding money and sex from her saying he would make her nude video viral on social media if didn’t pay up.
Head Constable Sunil Malavkar, who became a cabbie for the operation
“The accused had somehow got the nude video of the victim and he had asked her to visit Range Naka in Vasai East. She was asked to carry Rs 5,000 cash,” said PI Rishikesh Paval, who led the team that busted Ansari.
“The accused had booked a cab to take her from her house to the destination. So, we asked the girl not to say no to him. After the cab came to her house, we asked the driver to help us arrest the accused and planted our head constable Sunil Malavkar to drive the cab,” said Paval.
Malavkar told mid-day, “After the girl boarded the cab, the accused sent me the OTP. In a bid to check if she was coming alone, he made a video call to her and later he also called me. I told him that madam was alone in the cab.”
“One team in plain clothes was following us in a private vehicle. At Range Naka, he again called me to check if the girl was alone. I was told to stop the vehicle at a particular place. After waiting for nearly 10 minutes, the accused came there and he asked the girl to come out,” Malavkar recalled.
The accused targeted women who had fewer followers on social media. Representation pic
He added, “Now, the accused came near the driver’s seat and asked me: ‘kitna hua?’ I told him to make the payment online. He asked for my mobile number and I came out and nabbed him.” The complainant was unhurt, he said.
The police said Ansari has been stalking her since January 16 and had been demanding R5,000 cash along with spending one night with her. Malavkar apart, API Ram Surwase and API Sunil Pawar were part of the team that took Ansari into custody. “Ansari had also booked a cab for the victim to take her to a destination where he had planned to sexually abuse her,” said Paval.
Modus operandi
The police said that Ansari would follow women on Instagram and prey on those with fewer followers. “He would target women whose Instagram accounts were not private. This made his job easier by sending them direct messages,” said an officer privy to the investigation.
The officer said Ansari would impersonate a senior executive of an international sports brand and would claim he needed a few girls for modelling. “The lucrative offers would prompt his victims to continue chatting with Ansari. After winning their trust, the accused would switch over WhatsApp chats,” he said.
The accused, Abu Ansari
The officer explained, “He would ask the girls to share their photographs for the modelling. After receiving their pictures, Ansari would make video calls on Whatsapp but would turn off his own camera and screen-record the video chat,” the officer added.
“After the video call is disconnected, Ansari would send them the screen-recorded video to threaten the victim with posting the videos on social media. In return, he would force victims to continue video calls and then force them to remove their clothes… He would ensure that his camera was turned off but would record all the video calls made to victims,” the officer told mid-day.
“Now, after the videos of girls are recorded, Ansari would start demanding money through a payment gateway. He would also ask the victims to spend one night with him and would book a cab to take the victim to the destination to sexually abuse her,” the officer added.
More women preyed on
The Vasai police said Ansari is suspected to have abused many more women and most of them have already blocked him on WhatsApp.
“We have recovered many screenshots of girls and their nude videos from his cellphone, which has now been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Kalina to retrieve all the data which he has deleted,” said the officer.
Ansari has apparently told the police he got the idea about sextortion after learning that there are many accounts on social media where women take money to go nude. Inspector Sujitkumar Gunjkar has been tasked with checking the online platform where Ansari harassed women.
Zonal Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Kumar Patil said, “The accused has contacted more than seven victims. We have sent them messages urging them to come forward and file a complaint. People need to be alert in cyberspace and think twice before interacting with strangers on social media. We request people not to share their personal credentials with anyone on social media.”
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