Ex-Karnataka MLA's son blackmailed by cyber criminals over morphed sleaze clip

HUBBALLI: The son of a former MLA was targeted by cyber criminals who extorted money from him through a payment app over an alleged sleaze clip. Though the issue was brought before the cyber-crime police, the fraudsters have not been traced.

Police said Naveen, son of former JD(S) MLA N H Konaraddi, received a video call from an unknown number that was disconnected in a few seconds. Later he received a video clip of 13 seconds on WhatsApp in which his image grabbed from the earlier call was morphed with a nude woman. The caller then messaged him to transfer money and threatened to make the clip public if he failed to pay the amount.

Fearing loss of reputation, he sent a total of Rs 13,200 from his UPI account to the given contact number. Later, he approached the cyber-crime police station in Dharwad and the police froze the account of the offenders.

“I had received a video call and the screen turned black, but my part of the window was seen in the video call. After a few seconds, it was disconnected. Two hours later, I received a video on my WhatsApp number where a nude woman was posing and my video was morphed in it,” said Naveen.

“On the advice of my father, I headed towards the cyber-crime police station. Meanwhile, the caller had sent the same video to three persons who knew me. I got a couple of chats on my number demanding Rs 5,000. Fearing the video may circulate, I transferred Rs 5,000. Later they demanded another Rs 5,000 and again Rs 3,200,” he said and showed the same details to cyber-crime police on the same day.

Immediately, the account of the offenders was frozen with the help of bank officials who identified that it was being operated from Rajasthan. After the complaint, Naveen had not received any video call or chats on his mobile number.

In another case, a businessman from Dharwad had received a video call from an unknown number in which a nude woman spoke with him for a few seconds. Later, the recorded video of the conversation was used by her to blackmail the businessman and extort him. But he approached the cyber crime police and lodged a complaint.

Hubballi-Dharwad police commissioner Labhu Ram said till now two such cases have been registered with the police. They have formed a special team headed by a cyber-crime police inspector and are investigating both cases. The commissioner also urged any citizen who comes across such cases to contact the police.