Jabalpur, Sep 14 (PTI) Police in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday formed a special investigation team to catch a conman who is extorting money from women collegians after threatening them with AI-generated objectionable clips, officials said.
The SIT was formed by Jabalpur Superintendent of Police Aditya Pratap Singh to speed up progress in the case, which came to light in the first week of September, and has seen teams visit several states, they added.
The SIT will be headed by City Superintendent of Police (Kotwali) RK Shiv and will have personnel from the crime branch, cyber cell and women police station, Madan Mahal police station in charge inspector Praveen Dhurve told PTI.
The accused calls up victims and identifies himself as “police officer Vikram Goswami”, threatens them with action for sharing obscene videos on social media and then demands money, said police.
As per the police’s probe so far, the accused is deploying Artificial Intelligence to create such obscene videos.
An official said two students have transferred Rs 2000-3000 to him, adding it was being investigated how he was managing to get numbers of the collegians he was targeting.
“He sends a link, which contain obscene clips, to the mobile numbers of students and then threatens them with police cases. He also says a police team will visit their parents to apprise them of the developments,” the official said.
The case came to light after the management of Government Mankunwar Bai Women College alerted police, SP Singh said.
An FIR was then registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) section 318 (cheating) and Information Technology Act sections 66 (sending offensive messages through communication service, etc.) and 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form).
Close to 50 women may have been targeted by the accused though only three have come forward, as per police.
The issue has seen protests from both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress in Jabalpur. PTI COR LAL BNM
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