Lucknow: A 40-year-old Bahraich woman looking for weight-loss advice on Instagram allegedly fell into a blackmail trap after a person posing as a female doctor befriended her online, persuaded her to share photographs and later threatened to circulate them, police said.Bahraich police have arrested Himanshu Tayal alias Shami (46), who allegedly created a fake Instagram profile in the name of “Sakshi Bansal” and posed as a woman doctor to establish contact with the victim. The social-media account has since been deleted, police said.According to the FIR, the accused initially approached the woman through Instagram and offered to provide weight-loss advice. During their conversations in two months, he allegedly persuaded her to share photographs, telling her that they were needed to understand her condition and recommend suitable weight-loss measures.“The nature of the interaction allegedly changed after the accused obtained the photograph and began threatening to make the pictures public and allegedly issued threats against the woman’s son while demanding money,” said Vishwajeet Srivastava, superintendent of police, Bahraich.Under the alleged pressure, the woman paid ₹5.20 lakh to the accused by selling all her gold jewellery she got in marriage. He subsequently demanded another ₹10 lakh, following which the victim told her husband and approached the police on Sept 16. Following the complaint, Bahraich police formed two teams to identify and trace the person operating the fake Instagram account.Acting on an informer’s tip, police arrested Tayal near Bahraich railway station, officials said. Two mobile phones were recovered from his possession. Police claimed that photographs of the victim were found stored on the devices. Investigators also recovered ₹1 lakh in cash from him.During questioning, police said Tayal provided information about money allegedly obtained from the victim. Acting on the information, the police team recovered another ₹1.50 lakh in cash from his house. Police also seized several items allegedly purchased using the money obtained from the victim. The recoveries included an HF Deluxe Plus motorcycle, a Daikin 1.5-ton inverter air conditioner and a Samsung LED television, along with the purchase bill.In total, police said they recovered ₹2.50 lakh in cash, apart from the three items allegedly bought with the extorted money. The accused’s mobile phones have also been taken into custody for examination of his digital activity, including his social-media interactions and communications.Sources in the police said that the accused also targeted three more women in the past but they dared not file a complaint against him. Police records also show that Tayal had previously been booked in cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and in cases relating to house-breaking, theft and receiving stolen property.
