The Bengaluru police have arrested a college student for blackmailing aspiring women models by morphing their pictures and threatening to upload them on social media, police said on Wednesday, January 12. The accused, identified as Prapanch Nachappa (23) from Kodagu, is a student at a private college in Bengaluru. According to the police, Nachappa had opened a fake Instagram account in the name of a woman. He claimed himself to be a model and put up posts about offering opportunities to aspiring models.

Several women responded to his posts and contacted him over the phone. He had given his phone number as a contact, according to the police. He also is said to have sent unsolicited messages to women, advising them to join modeling.

The police said that the accused, after being contacted, asked the women to send their photographs. He also promised to pay them Rs 2,000 per photograph. He also told them that he would pay them Rs 10,000 if they sent a photograph wearing a bikini. The police added that he then asked for nude photographs, and when the women refused, threatened to upload all their photos on social media. Further, he morphed their pictures to make them look vulgar and sent them back to the women and demanded money, officials said.

The accused blackmailed over 20 women in this manner and extorted between Rs 10,000 to Rs 2 lakh from them, the police said. The case came to light when one of the women approached the Halasuru police station after being threatened by the accused with the help of a social activist. She gave all details of the accused along with the modus operandi to the police.

The police, after collecting information, took up the investigation and arrested the accused. The police said that they have found hundreds of photographs of women on his phone and that further investigation is ongoing.

The accused has been booked under relevant sections of Information Technology Act and Section 384 (Extortion) and 354D (Stalking) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

With inputs from IANS