Kolhapur man held for posing as woman, blackmailing MLA

Thane, Oct 13 (PTI) A 26-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly posing as a woman and blackmailing an MLA in Maharashtra's Thane city to extort money from him, police said on Monday.

The Thane city police on Sunday arrested the accused, Mohan Jyotiba Pawar, under section 308(3) (extortion) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Wagle Estate) Prashant Kadam said.

The police had earlier registered a case against a woman, but after a probe, they zeroed in on Pawar and apprehended him from Kolhapur.

The official said the accused allegedly posed as a woman and sent the MLA several chat messages, including obscene and objectionable videos and photos, blackmailed him and demanded Rs 5-10 lakh.

A probe team examined technical inputs and call detail records (CDRs) of the mobile number used by the perpetrator, traced him to Kolhapur, he said.

To establish credibility and convince the MLA that he was interacting with a woman, the accused sent a photo of his sister's Aadhaar card to the legislator, the official added.

"There was only one person involved, and neither the accused's sister nor any other woman was part of the crime," he said, adding that Pawar got acquainted with the MLA during the latter's stay in his constituency in Kolhapur. PTI COR ARU