Chennai: The All Women Police Station in Kottar, Nagercoil, arrested a 26-year-old unemployed man a few days ago, for sexually harassing and then extracting money from women by blackmailing them with photographs and videos.
Details about him are chilling. Kasi alias Suji, son of Thangapandian, lived in Ganesapuram Main Road, Nagercoil. He made lakhs by blackmailing women from affluent families including a doctor.
His list of victims included women from Kanyakumari to Chennai whom he befriended through social media.
Police said he posed on the internet as an entrepreneur. To some, he told that he was a pilot or sometimes he introduced himself as a lawyer.
He even photoshopped his pictures to look more muscular and beefed up while he pretended to work out in the gym. Using this, he would lure women he found on social media to video chat with him and send their personal pictures.
He even met several women and established physical intimacy. During this time, he clicked their photos in compromising positions without their knowledge. Later, he made the women send money by threatening them with the pictures. He made several lakhs using this modus operandi.
In one case, a woman complainant alleged that she had given him Rs 7 lakh. Police said if the women failed to pick the call or ignored him, he would blackmail them saying he would upload the pictures on the internet.
Several such women had reached out to singer Chinmayi Sripada narrating their ordeal. An active voice on the MeToo movement, Chinmayi had tweeted about the cases bringing them to the limelight.
Police have confiscated mobile phones, computer, pen drives and CDs from Kasi’s house.