Nashik man held for sexual exploitation after extortion probe unearths 121 obscene videos

Nashik: An extortion complaint has landed a senior citizen from Maharashtra's Nashik in the soup after a probe into his blackmailers uncovered 121 obscene videos, leading to his arrest for sexual exploitation after one of his victims came forward, accusing him of abuse, police said on Saturday.

The police had earlier arrested four men for allegedly stealing a tablet from the senior citizen's office in the Satpur area and attempting to extort Rs 12 lakh from him by threatening to leak his private photographs and videos on social media.

The police had seized four mobile phones, two pen drives and a memory card from the men, and on checking these devices, found 121 obscene and objectionable video clips of women and friends of the complainant, Ravindra Ganpat Erande, the official said.

In a twist to the tale, one of the victims lodged a complaint against Erande, alleging that he had sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions at various hotels with a promise of providing a government job to her son, he said.

Following the complaint, Erande was arrested on Friday under sections 69 (sexual intercourse by employing deceitful means etc) and other relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), Information Technology Act and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, the official said.

A probe has revealed that Erande allegedly sexually exploited several women and shot obscene videos of them.

The police have appealed to women to come forward with their complaints against Erande, assuring them that their identities will be kept confidential.

Erande had approached the Satpur police earlier this week with a complaint about his tablet being stolen from his office, stating that he had already paid the blackmailers Rs 10,000 and was to hand over Rs 50,000 on Thursday evening.

Based on the inputs, the police laid a trap and apprehended Akash Pundlik Bakre, Prakash Ramdas Panpatil, Suraj Sunil Gawai and Shreepat Bhimrao Shinde in connection with the blackmail and extortion bid.