Ahmedabad/Bikaner, May 5 (IANS) The Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch has arrested a man from Bikaner in Rajasthan and booked two others for allegedly running an Instagram-based extortion network, officials said.

In their fraud scheme, they posed as relationship advisers and spiritual healers, luring women with promises of resolving love and marital issues through rituals before allegedly blackmailing them using explicit material.

Police said on Monday that the accused, Rajnish Bhargava, was taken into custody following a complaint from a woman who alleged that she was cheated and money worth Rs 1,43,951 extorted from her through multiple transactions.

Two other accused, Vikas Bhargava and Ravi Bhargava, are absconding.

According to investigators, the group operated multiple Instagram accounts, including “astrologer_pooja_kinnar_maa”, through which they posed as an astrologer identified as “Pooja Kinnar Guru Ma”.

Police said the identity was deliberately fabricated to conceal the operator’s gender while building trust among vulnerable users seeking help for personal and marital problems.

A Cyber Crime Branch officer said, “The accused projected himself as an astrologer ‘Pooja Kinnar Guru Ma’ on Instagram and used this identity to defraud and blackmail victims under the pretext of performing rituals to make people fall in love, get married, settle divorce issues or solve relationship problems.”

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime) Lavina Sinha said the accused primarily targeted women through social media advertisements and direct outreach on Instagram and Facebook, offering solutions through rituals and “vashikaran”.

The DCP (Cuber Crime) said, “The accused collected personal information of the victims and, by maintaining continuous contact using multiple mobile numbers, obtained photos from them under the pretext of performing rituals.”

She further detailed the alleged coercion mechanism, saying, “The accused then edited these photographs and threatened to make them viral, forcing victims to undress during video calls for ‘shudhikaran vidhi’, which were screen-recorded to obtain nude videos of the victims.”

She added that the content was later sent back in “one view” format and used for extortion by threatening public circulation unless money was paid.

Police said the accused were in contact with around 300 women daily through social media and handled 60 to 65 clients per day for various rituals, charging between Rs 3,000 and Rs 15,000 depending on the procedure offered.

In the present case, investigators said Rs 1,43,951 was extorted from the complainant through repeated transfers.

Officials said that analysis of digital and financial evidence indicated the gang had been active for around two-and-a-half years, generating an estimated Rs 40 lakh to Rs 50 lakh during this period.

Investigators also traced multiple bank accounts linked to the operation, including accounts in Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda and State Bank of India, with total transactions of around Rs 60 lakh, some of which were linked to other cyber fraud cases reported across different states.

The FIR in the case, registered at Cyber Crime Police Station, invokes Sections 75(2), 77, 78(2), 308(2), 318(4), 351(2) and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with Sections 66(D) and 67 of the Information Technology Act.

Technical analysis combined with human intelligence led to the identification of the Instagram accounts, mobile numbers and financial channels used in the alleged fraud, resulting in the arrest of the main accused from Bikaner within a week of the complaint.

Officials said further investigation is underway to trace the absconding accused and identify additional victims linked to the alleged network.

–IANS

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