Scions of 2 biz families held for blackmail, extortion with

Kolkata Police has arrested three people including two members of reputable business families over allegations of blackmailing and extorting women with videotapes of their "intimate" moments, a senior police officer said on Thursday.

The accused were found in possession of videos of 182 women that were allegedly recorded by the two members of these families over seven years.

The third accused is an employee of one of them and used to call up a "potential victim" and extort money by threatening to release the intimate videotapes on internet, the IPS officer said, wishing not to be named.

He said Anish Loharuka, a member of a family owning a chain of hotels, and his friend Aditya Aggarwal, whose family controls a popular ethnic wear shops, started recording their sexual encounters with women in 2013.

"First they would befriend a woman and then develop physical relationship. During their intimate moments, they clicked photographs and shot videos which they saved on computers. After some time, they would end their relationship and start exploiting the women. Their main intention was to squeeze money from these women," he said.

One such woman lodged a complaint with Kolkata police's cyber crime wing in November last year, and a man named Kailash Yadav was apprehended on January 10 for allegedly threatening the complainant that he will make public the pictures and videos unless she paid him money.

After questioning Yadav, police arrested Loharuka and Aggarwal on January 28, he said. They admitted they used Yadav to evade police scrutiny.

Kolkata Police, he said, has so far seized videotapes involving 182 women.

A laptop containing sleazy photographs and videotapes has been seized and sent for forensic examination. The laptop allegedly belongs to Loharuka.

"We have found several messages that were sent to the victims from the mobile phone of Yadav. We have also retrieved call records of his device," he said.

The complainant has claimed she had paid Yadav Rs 5 lakh, but when he demanded another Rs 10 lakh, she approached police.

All three were produced before a city court which remanded them in police custody till February 6.