Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi
Udupi, Jul 17: Two youths have been arrested for allegedly sexually exploiting a minor girl, blackmailing her and also circulating an obscene video of her on WhatsApp. Two of their friends have also been arrested for blackmailing the same girl.
The arrested are prime accused Ganesh Mogaveera (27), Nagaraj (25), Srinivas (23) and Harish (24), all residents of Kota. They have been booked under POCSO Act.
It is said that Ganesh had been pretending to be in love with the victim, his distant relative, from the past one-and-a-half years. He saw her at a relative's wedding and told her that he loved her. The girl accepted him and they had a secret affair.
Ganesh then showed a photograph of the girl to his friend Nagesh, who allegedly used it to blackmail the girl and forced her to be intimate with him. Following this development, the girl broke up with Ganesh, but the girl continued to be in contact with Nagaraj as he was reportedly blackmailing her. Thereafter, Ganesh and Nagaraj are said to have told the girl to send an obscene picture of her and threatened to tell family everything if she revealed the matter to anyone. They also allegedly threatened to make the matter public on Facebook and WhatsApp. The girl, frightened and upset by their threats, sent a video of herself through WhatsApp to Ganesh.
Ganesh then forwarded the girl's video to Nagaraj and several other people on WhatsApp groups, it is alleged. The other accused, Srinivas and Harish, who saw the video, also started blackmailing the girl and pressurised her to have sex with them. Though this went on for one-and-a-half months, the girl remained silent and did not reveal the matter to any of her family members.
Meanwhile, the girl's brother came to know about it after his friend showed him the video that was circulating in WhatsApp. He then questioned his sister, after which the entire matter came to light.
The girl's parents, alarmed by the incident, immediately approached the Kota police and filed a complaint against the four boys. The police swung into action and arrested the accused and charged them under POCSO Act. They were later produced in court.
With the video getting circulated in WhatsApp, police are also trying to find out if more people are involved in the case.
The girl hails from a poor family and had remained at home after completing PUC. It is also learnt that it was Ganesh who bought her a phone and forced her to use it. The girl has reportedly said that she did not tell her family members about the phone and alleged in the complaint that the two main accused had threatened and raped her.
Kota police have registered a case.