By Debdutta Ghosh
Has there been a category for setting a world record in extorting and blackmailing women using sleazy videos of women on a hidden cam, Aditya Agarwal and Anish Loharuka from Kolkata, India, would certainly have been worthy contenders for it.
Instead the duo, who are in their early twenties and who reportedly hail from well to do business families, have found themselves behind bars.
The investigators have claimed that the duo, along with an accomplice who often helped them and who also has been arrested, had been running a sleaze racket in the city and they had filmed 182 women in compromising positions over the last six years and used the videos to extort money from them.
This racket was reportedly set up by the duo of Agarwal and Loharuka while they were still teenagers.
Looking out for easy money, police investigators have also claimed that the duo had created a group among their friends and exchanged the videos among the group – possibly in exchange for money.
Investigators said the duo would first “trap” their victims in an “emotional” relationship and then later became “physically intimate” with each. It was at this stage that the women were filmed by a third person – mostly the third accomplice in this case
Apart from the usual charges under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the arrested have also been charged under various sections of the Information Technology Act and cybercrime acts.
What is intriguing about this case and one that sets it apart from others in addition to the number of victims, is the fact that the youth belonged to well to do families and there was hardly any need for them to seek money elsewhere. Experts say that this is more because of a propensity to do crimes instead of the need to do so for money. The extent of the wealth of the families of the two arrested youth can be gauged from the fact that 22 lawyers have been appointed by the families to fight the cases.
The Agarwal family is the owner of a popular ethnic wear brand with countrywide operations while the Loharuka family is the owner and of chain of hotels in Kolkata.
Police sources said this habit or tilt towards criminality started among the two youth while they were in college. Both Agarwal and Loharuka had begun filming intimate moments with their female friends while they were still minors – around 17 years of age in 2013.
Despite having extorted scores of women and filming many more, the first complaint against the youth was filed in only in November 2019.
But the how did the investigators come to know the number of women victims?
Investigators, while examining the possessions of the accused, came across at least 182 folders with hundreds of clips present in each. All the folders had names, ages, addresses and other details of the victims. Explaining the professional approach of the accused for the crimes that they committed, investigators said that the folders were so neatly and orderly stored that it looked like the computer of a top HR executive of a company who keeps details of employees along with their backgrounds and performances.
What was the modus operandi used to entrap so many women?
Investigators said the duo would first “trap” their victims in an “emotional” relationship and then later became “physically intimate” with each. It was at this stage that the women were filmed by a third person – mostly the third accomplice in this case.
Examination of the clips themselves indicated that some of the victims had themselves given consent to be filmed – for fun, while most had no inkling that a camera was capturing their most private moments. These videos were later used by the duo to blackmail the victims – sometimes for repeated “intimate moments” in hotel rooms, resorts and other rented premises, and for money on other occasions.
How were the duo caught?
A complaint of blackmail was registered by one of the victims of the duo in November 2019 who complained that she was receiving threat calls from an “unknown caller” asking Rs 10 lakhs for not uploading on the internet video clips of intimate moments of the victim.
Since November, there were at least four similar complaints received by the police in Kolkata – demanding money for similar causes.
After initial hiccups in the investigations and after following several dead ends that took them to three other states — Uttarakhand, Bihar and Jharkhand, the police managed to tracked down Yadav, a resident of Deoghar in Bihar. This was when the first complainant received extortion calls after filing the police complaint. The police tracked the mobile phone tower of the caller which led them to Yadav.
The entire plot unfolded after Yadav was arrested interrogated as he was the thri d accomplice of the duo.
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