The Bengaluru police arrested a 28-year-old man who allegedly extorted money from a minor boy by morphing his photos. A man named Vishwanath targetted a 17-year-old boy by creating a fake account with the boy's name. He then messaged the boy over Instagram and sent him a morphed picture of himself on a nude body. Vishwanath demanded Rs 10 lakh from the minor and blackmailed him with the nude pictures. He said he would make these nude pictures public if he failed to pay. The boy began stealing from his house to pay up and when the parents approached the police, the truth emerged. Mumbai: Extortion Gang Makes Morphed Porn Video of Filmmaker's Dad, Demands Rs 25 Crore.

In January, Vishwanath even met with the boy at Marathahalli bus stop twice. The boy paid Rs 50,000 and Rs 1,50,000 respectively. In the month of February, the boy gave him Rs 36,000 and 14 silver pieces weighing 10gms each. The boy gave more 11 silver pieces and in the month of March, he made the last instalment with 25 silver pieces. Vishwanath promised that the pictures would be deleted. But according to the complaint registered by the boy, he once again received a call on April 1 for more money. Cybersecurity Steps: MHA Introduce ‘A Handbook for Students on Cyber Safety’ to Aware Students & Adolescents About Online Crimes & Threats.

The parents of the boy realised the disappearance of cash and silver coins from their house. They decided to approach the police. "That's when the boy told his parents about the nude pictures and that he had taken the money in order to pay Vishwanath," said Rajajinagar Police told TNM. The parents filed a complaint on April 3. An FIR was registered under section 384 (extortion) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC along with sections 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by impersonation) of the Information Technology Act.

The police arrested Vishwanath and he was remanded to five days police custody. It was revealed in the investigation that he had hacked into a girl's account who was apparently the boy's girlfriend. "Vishwanath confessed to morphing the picture and extorting money out of the boy. When he hacked into the girl’s account, he found that the boy’s parents were rich. So, he decided to blackmail him," the police added. Vishwanath is in judicial custody.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 20, 2019 09:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).