Govindpura police have nabbed a contractor who blackmailed a senior officer (DGM) of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) Bhopal, a honey trap was laid by a scrap contractor.
The officer was made to meet two women in a hotel. The video of this was recorded and later the accused demanded Rs 25 lakh by threatening to upload the video on social media.
Despite taking Rs 2.5 lakh in two installments, the contractor kept demanding money. Frustrated, the officer filed a case against the accused in Govindpura police station on Tuesday. The police have taken the accused into custody and started questioning him.
The police said that the victim officer lives in Govindpura area. The accused Shashank Verma, a resident of Saket Nagar, takes scrap contracts in BHEL and PWD. Both of them used to meet in this connection.
During a party, the contractor introduced the officer to two women. He also exchanged phone numbers with one of the women. He assured that the woman was trustworthy. If the officer makes a relationship with the woman, she will keep it confidential.
After taking the officer into confidence, Shashank arranged a room in a hotel on August 4. Here, the woman was sent to the officer. Videos were recorded using the hidden camera installed in the room. A few days later, on August 14, Shashank introduced another woman to the officer, claiming to be Russian national.
This time too, he arranged a room in a hotel. Like before, he set up hidden cameras in the room. Here, once again, he made an obscene video of the woman and the complainant.
The officer registered a case against the accused in Govindpura police station on Tuesday.
On August 14 itself, Shashank showed the officer videos and photos and demanded Rs 25 lakh. On refusing to accept the demand, he threatened that he would upload the videos on social media. After this, he talked about giving the money in installments. He took Rs 1 lakh in cash as the first installment. Then he took another 50 thousand rupees.
On August 30, Shashank demanded Rs 5 lakh rupees from the officer. Took him to Jabalpur in a car. Here, he made him transfer Rs 1 lakh online. Then left him on the condition that he would pay the remaining Rs 22.50 lakh in 10 days. After this, the officer came to Bhopal and complained to the police.
The BHEL officer told the police that the accused Shashank claimed to have 27 videos. Deepak had come to drop the woman whom he had sent to a hotel on Hoshangabad Road by claiming to be Russian. The girl had also returned with him. This incident happened on August 14.
"On August 15, Shashank demanded money, but I refused. After this, I received a call on my mobile number from a young man who introduced himself as a crime branch officer. He pressurized me to give the money to Shashank if I wanted to avoid the rape case. The caller also alleged that I had beaten the call girl, due to which she suffered serious injuries whereas I have not done so' he claimed.
DCP Shraddha Tiwari said that the police are also looking for the accused women Mamta Dwivedi and Pooja Rajput along with an alleged policeman of the Crime Branch. The other accused Deepak Bhagore met the alleged Russian girl as a broker. However, at present there is no evidence that either of them is a foreigner. At the same time, the court has handed over the honeytrap accused Shashank Verma to police remand till September 6.
