Sextortion call from prison: Bengaluru cops arrest rowdy, but no trace of phone

Bengaluru: Police investigating a sextortion call made by a jailed rowdy haven’t found a mobile device inside his prison cell, though forensic and technical evidence established that the gangster did make the phone call. 

For the moment, police have obtained the rowdy’s body warrant (an order obtained from court to take custody of a person in prison) and arrested two of his accomplices. 

The 44-year-old victim filed a complaint at the Yelahanka New Town police station, alleging she received a series of sextortion calls between February 9 and 11 from a jailed rowdy. Before that, the calls were from his accomplices, she said.

She claimed the perpetrators demanded Rs 5 lakh, saying they possessed nude pictures of her married daughter and would share them with her son-in-law if she refused to pay. 

Rowdy Manu alias Kencha, 25, had previously used morphed pictures to threaten the woman in August 2023 and had extorted Rs 40,000 from her, she told the police. Days after Kencha extorted money from the woman, police arrested him for his alleged involvement in an abduction case. 

Following the complaint, the police initiated a probe, but as the woman claimed that Kencha, who was in jail, made the call, the case was transferred to the Central Crime Branch (CCB). 

The CCB’s Organised Crime Wing (OCW) arrested Subhash and Yogesh, accomplices of Kencha. The OCW officers later took Kencha’s custody on a body warrant. 

A senior officer overseeing the case told DH that the probe and evidence suggested that Kencha had made the extortion call and had a phone in his possession. 

Another officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that they have the phone call recordings and other technical evidence, which are proof. However, a search inside the prison wasn’t fruitful. 

“We have established all the missing links in the case and have gathered proof to support itm even though we haven’t got the mobile phone,” the officer said. 

Speaking about the connection between the rowdy and the complainant, the officer said that they lived in the same neighbourhood for years and knew each other well. 

With the case suggesting a jailed rowdy using a mobile phone in prison, there are suspicions that electronic devices are being smuggled into the Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara.