Mumbai crime: Woman held in Borivli for blackmailing senior citizens, extorting Rs 50,000

Photo for representational purpose. Pic/ istock

A 49-year-old woman was recently arrested by Borivli police for blackmailing two senior citizens and extorting Rs 50,000 from one of them.

The accused, Alfa Panchal, is a resident of Borivli (West).

As per police, the woman frequented temples in the city and met senior citizens. She introduced herself as a real estate agent and developed friendships with them. Later, she invited them to their house and had sex with them, which she shot on camera and later blackmailed the victims with the footage.

One of the victims, a 47-year-old businessman recently approached the police complaining that Panchal had met him and shot videos during sex without his knowledge. She had then started blackmailing him and demanded Rs 25 lakh. The complainant said he had given the woman Rs 50,000 but when she demanded more, he approached the police,

Similarly, another complaint had come forward and registered a complaint stating that he had also become a victim of Panchal's racket.

"During the investigation, we have found that she used to target senior citizen men. She befriended them and took mobile numbers and home addresses of all the people close to the target and threatened to make the video viral if she was not paid. Looking at her modus operandi, it seems that many people might have become a victim of her fraud," said an officer.

Under the supervision of senior inspector Ninad Sawant, investigating officer API Gayetri Bedse, with the help of detection staff, traced the accused and arrested her from Borivli a few days back. "She was booked and arrested under sections 384 and 385 of IPC," said PSI Nilesh More from Borivli police station.

"We have arrested the woman and are investigating how many more people she has blackmailed. Till now two men have approached us," he added.