Delhi Police bust gang that made sextortion calls to Minister Prahlad Patel, 2 arrested

The Delhi Police’s Crime branch arrested two men from Bharatpur in Rajasthan for making a sextortion call to Prahlad Singh Patel, Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, and Jal Shakti. The arrested accused were identified as Mohammad Vakil and Mohammad Sahib from Bharatpur, Rajasthan.

However, the police informed that the main accused, Sabir, is still absconding. 

A Delhi Police officer stated that Patel’s personal secretary, Alok Mohan reported the incident in the last week of June. The Police registered a case under Sections 419 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Afterward, they arrested both the accused. 

The officer said, “On behalf of Patel, his Personal Secretary, Alok Mohan, contacted Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora and filed a complaint with the Crime Branch. An FIR was registered under IPC Sections 420 (cheating) and 419 (impersonation), and police started their investigations.”

According to the complaint, the accused targeted Union Minister Prahlad Patel through Whatsapp. They made a video call to his number and during the call, they played a pornographic video with the intention of blackmailing him. However, the Minister immediately disconnected the call. Later, he received a call in which the accused threatened to release his video clip on social media, police officer said. 

The Minister than promptly reported the Delhi Police Commissioner about getting a sextortion call following which the Police started the investigation that led to two arrests from Rajasthan’s Bharatpur. 

According to a police officer, a “sextortion” call typically involves blackmail, wherein the caller threatens the receiver to release a phone/video call of sexual nature to the public.

An officer stated that with the help of local police informers, they laid a trap and arrested two accused. They recovered one of the phones that were used for making the call to the Union Minister and sent it for forensic examination. 

Later, they successfully traced the two phone numbers which were used in the cybercrime to Md Sabir, a Bharatpur resident, and to an address in Assam. 

During the investigation, the Crime Branch revealed that the arrested accused were running an organized “sextortion” racket. The officer informed that the investigation team found out that one SIM was used in 36 International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers, while the other one was used in 18 IMEI numbers. 

Earlier, in December 2021, the Delhi Police had arrested five men for making extortion calls to MoS (Home Affairs) Ajay Kumar Mishra. He had received phone calls in which the accused were trying to extort money from the minister. They claimed that they had some “incriminating” video clips. 

Subsequently, an FIR was lodged and four accused were arrested from Noida while another accused was held from Seeraspur in Delhi.