Man from Chhattisgarh held for blackmailing Odisha woman with morphed photos

Bhubaneswar: The police have arrested a man from neighbouring Chhattisgarh on charges of blackmailing a woman of Sonepur district in Odisha with her morphed photos.

Accused Jogindra Soni (34) of Bagabara in Mahasamund district of Chhattisgarh had also made an attempt to kill the woman, said Sonepur SP Amresh Kumar Panda.

The accused had made friendship with the woman through social media a few years ago. He later started blackmailing the woman by threatening her with some morphed photos, added the SP.

The accused sought money from the victim by threatening her to upload the morphed photos on social media. The victim was forced to pay Rs 78,000 to the accused through PhonePe on December 21 last year.

The accused later asked the woman to provide Rs 2 lakh to him by sending someone to an Ashram in Rajasthan.

Subsequently, the woman’s husband, a resident of Berhampur city, handed over Rs 2 lakh to the accused. However, the accused sought Rs 1 lakh more from the victim’s husband.

“The accused had taken Rs 3.78 lakh from the woman and her husband in three phases. He had also tried to kill the woman. The victim had lodged a complaint in this regard with police,” said the SP.

Acting on the complaint, the police registered a case and arrested the accused from Titlagarh in Odisha yesterday. They have also seized two mobile phones from him, added the SP.