New Delhi: Thousands of obscene, nude photographs of over 200 women, including foreigners, which were sold on foreign porn websites — this is what has allegedly been found on the laptop of a 33-year-old man in Noida, who works as a market research analyst at a giant multinational tech company, Delhi Police sources told ThePrint.
Identified as Mohit Sharma, an engineering and MBA graduate, the accused has been arrested by the IFSO unit of Delhi Police for allegedly blackmailing women to send nude photos and videos, said sources.
Over 4,000 obscene images were allegedly found on his laptop during technical analysis, said sources. “During interrogation, he revealed that this was his side business. He sold photos and videos of these women on porn websites,” said a source.
Sharma allegedly contacted the women on Instagram and lured them into sending their nude photos by posing as a woman and then further blackmailed them with those photos, demanding them to send more videos and photos, sources said.
A complaint against him was filed online with the local police in September 2020 and later with the Delhi Police Cyber Cell in June 2021.
“The accused, identified as Mohit Sharma, was arrested from his residence in Noida and has been charged under Section 66C IT Act, 419 (punishment for cheating by personation) Indian Penal Code and sections of the POCSO Act were also invoked in the case,” said K.P.S. Malhotra, Deputy Commissioner of Police, IFSO, Delhi Police.
“Sharma holds a B.Tech Degree in mechanical engineering and also a post graduation in business management. Further investigation is on,” said Malhotra, adding that the accused is currently in police custody.
“The accused Mohit Sharma was also found involved previously in a similar case investigated by Cyber Cell, Noida,” DCP Malhotra added.
The investigation was led by ACP Raman Lamba and the team included Inspector Arun Tyagi, Head Constable Ravinder, Constable Ashok.
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How the case was cracked
According to the police, the matter came to light after a Delhi-based woman filed a complaint with the cyber cell, alleging that someone has created a fake Instagram account with the user name ‘Archudnes’ and posted nude photographs of her. She alleged that the account threatened her saying that he would share her photos. The Instagram account also had the complainant’s Instagram profile photos.
She said that she was first contacted about 6-7 months ago by another Instagram account, ‘Maria’, impersonating a woman editor of a ‘Russian’ magazine, asking for her nude photos without a face, sources said.
“The complainant sent the user the photos, after the IG user said that it was for some lingerie ad and she would be paid in dollars. Later, the user, ‘Maria’, further induced her to involve her sister as well, after asking her who had clicked her first photos. After establishing a friendly relationship with the two women, the user further asked the complainant to send her nude photos with her face,” said the source quoted above.
“The complainant and the IG user were out of contact after this initial conversation. After 6-7 months, another user — Archudnes — contacted the complainant and blackmailed her with the first photos to send more such photos. He asked her to send more nude videos using props in different poses. When she refused, he sent her pictures to her friends and family members on Facebook, including minors. He had initially also asked the complainant that she should start arranging money,” the source added.
In a similar case with Noida police previously, “his laptop and mobile were seized, but nothing was found there”, the source said. “There was a lack of technical evidence against him,” added the source.
“During investigation, digital footprints/registrant details were collected from Instagram and Hotmail which provided the IP addresses of the alleged user at the time of the alleged offence and creation of Hotmail ID linked with it. It was found that the IP addresses of Instagram and Hotmail are linked with a broadband WiFi connection installed at the residence of the accused in Noida,” DCP Malhotra said.
Forensic analysis revealed data
According to the police, Sharma had initially denied his involvement in the case and claimed that the WiFi connection was hacked by someone. He also submitted a complaint in this regard.
After no visible evidence were found on the devices — mobile and laptop, the police sent them to forensic analysis at the National Cyber Crime Forensic Laboratory for extracting deleted data.
“Thousands of obscene images of women including the images relevant in the case were found in the extracted data from the laptop being used by accused Mohit Sharma,” the DCP added.
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