Team Herald
PANJIM: A sitting MLA from North Goa has become the latest target of cybercrime – and ended up paying the criminal as well.
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The Crime Branch of the Goa police on Wednesday arrested a man from Odisha for allegedly extorting Rs 55,000 from the senior legislator by blackmailing him with a morphed video depicting explicit sexual content. The accused has been identified as Kukesh Rauta, a resident of Ganjam, Odisha.
According to a complaint filed on December 2, the MLA, whose identity has been withheld, alleged that the accused contacted him via a video call on his mobile phone. During the call, the accused secretly recorded the MLA and the video was later digitally altered to create sexually explicit content involving a woman.
The MLA stated that the accused sent the manipulated video to him and demanded money, threatening to release the video publicly if the demand was not met. Under pressure, the MLA initially transferred Rs 55,000 to the accused’s bank account. However, the accused subsequently demanded an additional Rs 5 crore, warning that failure to comply would result in the video being shared on social media platforms.
