New Delhi: A 32-year-old man, who died by suicide last month in Gurugram, allegedly fell prey to online extortion, the police said on Wednesday, as reported by PTI. The victim who worked as a security guard had befriended a woman on WhatsApp who had tricked him to strip on phone, which she then used to blackmail him.
According to the report, this angle came to light on December 5 when his widow received a message from the woman on the WhatsApp account linked to his mobile number. The woman had demanded money and threatened that she would circulate his photos if the amount was not paid.
The victim's widow then approached the police, following which an FIR was registered at Rajendra park police station on Tuesday. As per the report, Anil Kumar worked as a security guard for a private builder company in Gurugram.
On November 15, he died by suicide and his body was found hanging from a tree close to the company's construction site near Dwarka Expressway. After the post-mortem determined that the cause of death was hanging and no suicide note was found there, the body was handed over to the family.
Manju, the widow of Kumar, filed a complaint on Tuesday with the police and claimed that he had died by suicide due to sextortion. She also submitted some proof obtained from the mobile of her husband.
"We were in deep sorrow because there was no issue to commit suicide by my husband and his mobile was switched off since then. It was on December 5 that I switched on his mobile and soon after got a WhatsApp message in which a woman was demanding money and threatening to make the objectionable photos of my husband viral.
"I scanned the phone to learn that my husband had become friends with her through Whatsapp. She extorted money from him by threatening to share his objectionable photos with me and other relatives and my husband committed suicide only due to that threat," Manju said in her complaint.
Following the complaint, an FIR was registered against an unknown woman under sections 306 (abatement to suicide), 384 (extortion) of the IPC at Rajendra park police station on Tuesday.
"After registering the FIR, we have started an investigation and found a sum of Rs 72,000 was transferred through the Paytm account of the deceased to different accounts linked to some mobile numbers. We have identified the mobile numbers and they are being verified. Our team is on job and the accused will be arrested as earliest possible", said Shiv Archan, ACP, West.
(With agency inputs)