Chandigarh woman gets ₹5 crore extortion threat from live-in partner

A 24-year-old Delhi man has been booked for allegedly blackmailing a 34-year-old city woman of posting her nude pictures and videos online if she fails to pay him ₹5 crore.

The woman was living in with the accused, Manish Linghwal, for a couple of months in Delhi, when he managed to capture her images and videos.

In her complaint, the victim, a resident of Sector 19, said Manish approached her over Facebook for friendship, and when she turned him down and blocked him, he texted her from multiple Facebook IDs.

Inspector Jasminder Singh from the cyber crime cell, who is investigating the complaint, said, “The woman was pursuing her divorce, and was stressed when Manish approached her. She eventually agreed to meet him, and they became friends.”

Soon, the woman moved in with Manish in Delhi, and started working for a hotel there. Jobless himself, Manish would demand money from her, Singh said. As the duo developed an intimate relationship, Manish managed to capture nude videos and images of the victim.

“Recently, when she expressed her desire to visit her family in Chandigarh, Manish started punching and kicking her, leaving her with injuries on an eye. The woman somehow managed to escape and reached Chandigarh,” Singh said.

Manish then started making extortion calls to her, demanding Rs 5 crore, threatening to post her images and videos on YouTube if she failed to pay up.

Acting on the woman’s complaint, a case under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354D (any man who follows a woman and contacts, or attempts to contact such woman to foster personal interaction repeatedly despite a clear indication of disinterest by such woman), 384 (extortion), 511(attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code, and Section67 of the Information Technology Act at the Sector 19 police station.