Four blackmail producer's son with stolen phone, held

HYDERABAD: Four persons were arrested for attempting to extort 1.5 crore from a Tollywood producer's son, who was in news during the recent casting couch row, by threatening to share intimate photos and videos of him with the media.
Cyber Crime police, in a press release, said Raghu Rama Varma, Nadempally Karthik, Tirumal Shetti Naga Venkata Sai and P Chandra Kishore, all natives of West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh, were arrested for stealing an iPhone of the producer's son and demanding ransom.
Nearly two years ago, the producer's son had lost his iPhone at a restaurant in Jubilee Hills and it was picked by one of the four. They unlocked the phone and accessed photos and videos in it. With the producer's son making headlines recently and his photos were flashed by the media, they discovered that he was rich and could extort money.
On April 24, they sent an email to the victim demanding 1.5 crore. If he fails to cough up the money, they would share the photos with the media. On knowing about this, the producer approached Hyderabad police brass and lodged a complaint on April 28. A trap was laid by police assuring to give the demanded ransom and nabbed the four.
"After browsing the victim's phone, they found some pictures and decided to blackmail him for ransom. To do this job, they purchased a phone and a SIM card and approached the victim through e-mail stating that they have some personal pictures and videos and demanded ransom," deputy commissioner of police (CCS) Avinash Mohanty said.