Bhopal, Nov 10 (IANS): A man, who allegedly molested, blackmailed, and extorted money from a schoolgirl in Madhya Pradesh's Indore after befriending her on the internet, has been arrested, police said on Thursday.

The accused has been arrested on the basis of a complaint from the victim on Wednesday, police said.

The victim told police that accused befriended her on social media, and was blackmailing her. The girl, who is a Class 12 student, also claimed that the she has so far paid Rs 1.2 lakh to accused in different installments.

She also disclosed that the accused had clicked obscene photographs and had recorded a videos of her during a visit to a hotel with him and was blackmailing her by threatening to make these viral on social media. The victim said she kept following his instruction out of fear and stole money and jewellery from her home to pay him off.

Police said they are interrogating the accused to find out if he has trapped other persons with this modus operandi. The man has been charged under Indian Penal Code's Sections 354 (criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will there by outrage her modesty), 385 (extortion), and 509 (threatening over phone), the official added.

The matter came to the fore only after her parents noticed cash and jewellery were going missing often from their home over the past two months. When asked about this, the girl ducked the query. However, she later told her cousin the accused had taken her to a hotel and clicked obscene photographs and videos, which were being used to blackmail her. After the cousin alerted the victim's father, he approached police to file a complaint, police said.