INDIA: The Shivdi police on Thursday arrested three men from the Darukhana area in South Mumbai on charges of clandestine video shooting women and young girls in nude/semi-nude positions and blackmailing them.
The accused used to shoot private movements of the women while they took baths or changed their clothes, from the gaps/holes in their huts, or by placing hidden cameras in public conveniences. Based on these video clips, they used to blackmail the victims.
The Darukhana area is a slum area where the huts are made of plywood or tin sheets. It is known as a scrap yard since ship breaking goes on a massive scale in the area.
The situation came to light during a confrontation between one of the victims and an accused person on Monday. During their altercation, one accused began threatening the victim with blackmail over a video in his possession. At that point, the victim went to the police, and they started an inquiry. At the same time, a local took a pen drive from one of the accused and discovered it contained pornographic videos.
During the investigation, the police found out that three men were involved in the matter. “These three were clicking pictures and shooting videos of women through windows and doors of the houses in slums since 2019. They mainly kept these photos and footage with themselves in a pen drive for their entertainment,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Port Zone) told media.
The police arrested the accused and seized all their gadgets, including smartphones, pen drives, etc. The seized material has been sent to Forensic Laboratory to retrieve the video clips deleted by the accused. The accused resided in a slum in the Boat Hard Road area at Reay Road in South Mumbai.
The accused have been identified as Satish Harijan (29), Stephan Nadar (21), and Sarwana Harijan (23). An FIR (467/2022) under sections 354(A),292, 30 IPC, and 66(e) and 67 (a) of the Information Technology Act 2000 has been registered.
The police said the four primary victims of the case had provided immense cooperation from their end to the police to solve the case within three days. Further investigation in the case is underway, along with the assistance of cyber police and the Mumbai Crime Branch, to find out if they have circulated or sent the photos or videos to anyone.
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