Pathankot Police busted a sextortion and online fraud racket with the arrest of the mastermind on Friday. The gang is believed to have been active for the last two to three years, during the course of which, they allegedly targeted people across the country.

The mastermind has been identified as Akbar, 45, a resident of Naheda village of Nuh district. Three others associated with him, Shutan, Mushtkeen, and Rashid, all of the same village, are yet to be arrested.

They have been booked under Sections 385 (extortion), 417/420 (cheating), 507 (criminal intimidation), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 66D, 67, 67A of the IT Act.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Harkamal Preet Singh Khakh said, “The genesis of this operation started from a complaint lodged with the cyber cell of Pathankot Police. The victim was being blackmailed after a deceptive WhatsApp call, leading to the creation of a compromising video.”

“The culprits had impersonated high-ranking police officers from Haryana and Rajasthan and threatened to register a murder case against the victim. They were also leveraging the video to extort money from him,” said the SSP.

Police have seized ₹2.52 lakh cash, three Point of Sale (PoS) machines, cheque books, ATM cards, and fingerprint scanners from Akhbar. They have also traced the three bank accounts, one each of HDFC, SBI, and Canara Bank, used to carry out the nefarious activities.