Jaipur, Six men were arrested and a juvenile detained for allegedly being involved in blackmailing girls and seeking sexual and monetary favours from them in Ajmer.
The action was taken after an FIR of rape, blackmail and extortion from a minor girl was registered with Christianganj police station against the seven accused on May 31.
The police arrested two persons including the main accused Irfan and detained one minor on Sunday and arrested four accused, all aged around 19-20 years, on Monday.
SP Ajmer Devendra Vishnoi said that the accused roam around Anasagar chowpati and seven wonders site adjacent to the Anasagar lake and target school girls through social media, particularly Instagram.
IG Ajmer Lata Manoj Kumar has formed an SIT to investigate the matter in detail to find out if any other victim is there or there is involvement of others.
Circle officer and investigating officer Rudra Prakash Sharma said that four other accused’Rajjak Kathat, Imran Khan, Aslam Khan and Mubaraq Khan’were arrested today.
He said that Irfan befriended a minor girl through social media in December. He sought the password of her Instagram ID and sent messages and morphed photos of the girl to her friends, he said.
Irfan raped and blackmailed her. The offence continued for three to four months. Later, he started extorting money from the girl, Sharma said, adding that the other accused were his accomplices and their role is being examined.
SP Vishnoi said that the victim’s father noticed that the girl was stealing money after which he questioned her and the matter came to light.
He said that the accused target girls on social media, send them friend request. Once they are in their trap, they blackmail them and seek sexual and monetary favour, he said.
The SP said that the accused used to roam around in public places with cameras and click photos.
“During investigation, it was revealed that the accused formed a gang and trapped many girls by messaging them from various Instagram IDs. The girls who get trapped are especially minor girls who study in schools and coaching centers,” he said.
“The gang members make friends with them by deceit and blackmail them with obscene photos and video chats and make relations with them and later extort money. All the accused later enjoy with that money and fulfill their expensive hobbies,” the SP added.
Taking note of the matter, Rajasthan Assembly speaker Vasudev Devnani spoke to Ajmer SP and other senior police officers and instructed them to take strict action against the culprits.
Devnani, who is from Ajmer, said that incidents of people of a particular community luring and committing crimes against innocent girls are coming to light in Ajmer and the police should take strict action.
He said that the culprits will be given strict punishment.
“If needed, we will not shy away from running a bulldozer on the property of the culprits,” he said.
“The blackmailing incident will not be allowed to happen again in Ajmer. No matter how influential the accused are, they will not be spared. For quick justice in this case, all possible help will be given at the government level. If needed, bulldozers will also be run on the property of the culprits so that no one else in the society can dare to commit such a crime,” he said in a statement.
He said that the police should investigate the entire case thoroughly.
“This is not a normal individual crime but a planned crime being committed by a gang,” he said.
Meanwhile, BJP held a protest at the SP office and demanded stern action against the accused.
BJP district president Ramesh Soni said the matter should be investigated in detail to ensure that there is no reoccurrence of indent like 1992-sex and blackmail scam in which many girls were raped and blackmailed.
Neeraj Jain, Deputy mayor of Ajmer Municipal Corporation, said that the police should expand the scope of investigation to find out how many other accused are involved in the matter apart from those named in the FIR.
“In 1992 also, many girls were trapped. They were raped and blackmailed,” he said.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.