Man blackmails minor girl with rape video

A private firm employee has been booked for raping a minor girl and blackmailing her into stealing gold jewellery from her family.

Police said Abhishek Gowda, 24, a resident of Rajajinagar, had befriended the class 10 student on a social media site and stalked her before eventually proposing to her.

He met her a few times in Nandini Park and borrowed a gold chain from her, saying he had some financial problems. He later called her to the park to get the chain back. But when the girl went there, he took her to a lodge near ESI Hospital in Rajajinagar and allegedly raped her, a police officer said, adding that the suspect also filmed the act.

Using the video, he then started blackmailing her. He even went to her house once when her parents were away, raped her again and took away 500 grams of gold jewellery and Rs 57,000 in cash from the house, according to a police complaint.

Gowda threatened to leak her pictures and the video and kill her parents if she talked about the incident to anyone. He later forced her to steal more jewellery and money from her family, the complaint stated.

Alarmed by the repeated thefts, her parents suspected and questioned her. She eventually told them about Gowda. Her mother subsequently filed a complaint at the Nandini Layout police station. Gowda has been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.