The Infopark police on Thursday arrested two more persons in connection with a case in which a young businessman fell prey to extortion and blackmailing following an alleged honey trap laid by a city-based make-up artist and her aides last month.
The arrested were identified as Joy Joseph, 30, Kusumagiri near Kakkanad, and Fiju Francis, 29, of Athani in Kakkanad. They were absconding after the incident. This has taken the number of the arrested in the case to four.
According to the police, the accused allegedly withdrew ₹64,000 from various ATMs after forcibly securing the ATM card of the friend of the petitioner.
One more at large
“We are on the look-out for one more person who shared the naked videos of the petitioner,” said A. Ananthalal, Inspector in charge of Infopark police. The police had arrested Juli Julian, 37, of Mamangalam and her alleged partner in crime, K.S. Krishnakumar aka Ranjeesh, 33, of Athani in Kakkanad last week.
The incident reportedly took place at the building Julian had taken on rent for operating a beauty parlour near Kakkanad on January 27. The police said that the woman and the victim were acquaintances and the former had invited the latter who reached the spot along with his friend.
At this point, three of the woman’s accomplices allegedly barged into the room, assaulted and disrobed the victim and then blackmailed him, threatening to share his nude pictures and videos unless he paid up. Then they forcibly secured the ATM card of the victim’s friend. The victim eventually petitioned the police after his nude pictures appeared on social media.
The police have not fully ruled out the gang of having targeted more people in this manner though they have not received any other complaint yet.