A 58-year-old man from Gurugram was allegedly extorted of ₹6.3 crore over almost 4 years by unidentified suspects who posed as a overseas airline air hostess and her relations, together with a Meghalaya police officer, police stated on Friday.
Police stated the sufferer is a resident of Palm Springs in Sector 53, he runs a consulting agency and is a former director and chief advertising officer of a non-public insurance coverage firm.
A senior police officer stated that the extortion and blackmailing continued between Might 2021 and July 2025.
“The girl first contacted the sufferer on Fb in 2020 and later shifted the dialog to WhatsApp. After months of chatting, she despatched him objectionable images, that are suspected to be morphed by police. The suspect then demanded cash from the sufferer by blackmailing him by saying that she’s going to leak their private chats,” stated the officer.
Law enforcement officials stated that quickly after, different suspects entered the scene, impersonating the girl’s father, brother and mom. Certainly one of them claimed to be a Meghalaya police officer concerned within the safety of the state’s chief minister, whereas one other posed as a sub-divisional officer with the Meghalaya authorities.
“The sufferer had transferred ₹5000 into the girl’s account in Might 2021 when she made him speak to a suspect who recognized himself as her father and sought apology to win his belief,” he stated.
A senior police officer stated the suspects continued to demand cash on numerous pretexts, together with charges for pilot coaching for the sufferer’s brother, most cancers remedy of suspect’s mom, sickness of a new child youngster of the air hostess, and suicide threats, amongst others. The extortion allegedly continued until July 2025.
Police stated, the sufferer had transferred ₹32.38 lakh into the suspects’ financial institution accounts in 2021, ₹47.15 lakh in 2022, ₹1.25 crore in 2023, ₹2.1 crore in 2024 and ₹2.14 crore in 2025.
Investigators stated that each time the sufferer refused to switch the cash, the suspects threatened him by sharing screenshots of chats and objectionable photos, and warned of circulating them.
Police stated the sustained stress took a toll on the sufferer’s well being, and he reportedly suffered a mind stroke and paralysis in 2022.
The fraud got here to mild when the sufferer’s chartered accountant seen repeated transactions to 2 financial institution accounts in Meghalaya and questioned him, stated police, including that until then, the sufferer believed that the girl was really an air hostess. The sufferer later acknowledged within the FIR that he then realised he had been cheated.
When the sufferer blocked the suspects’ numbers in Might final 12 months, they allegedly contacted him from Might to December final 12 months, utilizing a number of numbers and despatched messages and pictures to his spouse, son, enterprise companions, former colleagues and their spouses, demanding more cash.
Police stated the sufferer filed a grievance on the nationwide cybercrime portal in December 8 final 12 months, following which an FIR was registered at Sector 53 police station on Wednesday.
The case has been registered beneath sections 308(2) (extortion), 316(2) (felony breach of belief), 351(2) (felony intimidation), 356(2) (defamation) and 61 (felony conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Sandeep Turan, public relations officer of Gurugram police, stated groups have been shaped to hint and arrest the suspects. “We’re additionally coordinating with banks to freeze the defrauded quantity whether it is nonetheless current in any account,” he stated.
