Resident of city's Wadala area, the woman was duped on August 4 after receiving a call from a man identifying himself as “Deepak,” an executive of a milk company. 

The caller shared a link and asked her to enter personal details to place an order. According to police, she complied while remaining on the call for almost an hour. The fraudster contacted her again the following day and extracted more information.

Days later, during a routine bank visit, the woman discovered that a total of Rs 18.5 lakh was siphoned off from her three bank accounts. 

The preliminary investigation suggest that the accused gained access to her phone after she clicked on the link sent to her, seeking personal bank details. 

A case has been registered and investigation is underway. 

The accused is pursuing graduation from School of Open Learning. The accused befriended the 14-year-old girl and also threatened her to share nude pictures. He also asked for sexual favours lest he would circulate her already available private pictures on social media platforms, they said.

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The victims father approached the police, at that time the matter came to light. He said that his daughter shared her private pictures and videos with someone through Instagram chats and was worried that the video might be circulated.

The father of the victim was reluctant to initiate any legal action.

The victim later disclosed after counselling and cross questioning that she had shared her private pictures and video with a friend on Instagram; after which he began to pressurise her to indulge further in inappropriate chats and coerced her to send more such pictures, police said.

A case has been registered based on the statement of the minor, police further added. While investigating the matter, police found the details of the alleged Instagram profile and also the IP address and mobile numbers used to register. 

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North), Sagar Singh Kalsi said, “The details of the IP address was further obtained from concerned mobile operators and the identity of the alleged person was ascertained.”

It was later found by police that the mobile number with which the address was registered was on the boy's father name. As the boy was not found at home, his father was directed to produce him before the police.

"During the enquiry, the accused claimed that he came in possession of some private pictures of the girl and started following her on Instagram. He kept her private pictures saved on his mobile phone and used to stalk her online. After befriending her, he started asking for her nude photos, but when the girl did not agree to his demands, he told her that he has her private pictures already," the DCP said.

When his phone was checked it was found that he was also harassing other young girls through the same modus operandi, the police said.

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