Team Herald
PANJIM: Kukesh Routa, an Odisha native who was arrested for extorting money from Aldona MLA Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira by threatening to release a morphed obscene video, has approached the Bombay High Court at Goa seeking to quash the FIR filed against him. However, the Crime Branch has opposed his petition.
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Routa, a resident of Ganjam, Odisha, filed a criminal writ petition arguing that the matter has been resolved amicably with the complainant, Adv Alvares. During the hearing, senior advocate Nitin Sardesai stated that there was a misunderstanding between the accused and the complainant. He further explained that since the issue has been settled between the parties, the petition was filed to quash the FIR.
Sardesai cited the legal principle that if the
prosecution is unlikely to reach a logical conclusion or if the offence is personal in nature and both parties agree to a settlement, continuing the case would be a waste of court resources and prosecution efforts.
However, the Crime Branch opposed the petition, arguing against the quashing of the FIR. Since the public prosecutor was absent, the Court has scheduled the matter for further arguments on Monday, March 4.
Routa was arrested in December last year for allegedly extorting Rs 5 lakh from MLA Alvares by blackmailing him with a morphed video, in which the MLA is allegedly shown in a sexually explicit clip with a woman. The complainant stated that the accused contacted him via video call, recorded the conversation without his knowledge, and later morphed it into obscene material.
He then sent the video to the MLA, demanding money in exchange for not releasing it publicly.
The MLA transferred Rs 55,000 to Routa’s bank account. However, Routa continued to extort money, demanding Rs 5 crore, and threatened to post the morphed video on social media if his demands were not met.
The Crime Branch has registered the case against Routa under Section 384 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 66-C, 67, and 67-A of the Information Technology Act, 2008.
