CCB police nab gym instructor accused in sex extortion racket

Mangalore Today News Network

Bangalore, July 12, 2014:  A gym instructor who was a central figure in a sex extortion racket has been arrested by the Bangalore Central Crime Branch police from a resort near Devanahalli on the outskirts of Bangalore.

The gym instructor identified as Raghu had been absconding for the past few weeks after his role in the racket was exposed. Among the others who are absconding in the case is prominent Kannada starlet Nayana Krishna.

It was run by a gang featuring film and television actresses, a policemen and local news channel employees. The gang is accused of using film and television actresses to seduce prominent persons, secretly filming sexual encounters and blackmailing the targeted persons.

The gang was busted while they were trying to extort Rs 25 lakh from a 65-year-old doctor at a prominent hospital in Bangalore. A police constable and two persons working with local news channels were initially arrested for blackmailing the doctor. The police investigation revealed that some actresses from the Kannada film and television industry were involved in the racket.

Three actresses named in the case, including Nayana Krishna, are still at large. The doctor who was targeted by the gang had initially paid Rs 1 lakh to the gang from fear that the video of his sexual encounters would be made public. He later approached the police when the gang demanded more.

The gym instructor Raghu who has a criminal history was identified as being one of the main co-ordinators of the activities of the gang.

“After the case was registered, Raghu went to his native place Hiduvalu village in Mandya along with his fiancee Latha. They then fled to Shiradi where he had his head tonsured. He stayed there for five days.

“Since he knew one Damodar Swamy in Manthralaya he went there and stayed until yesterday when he contacted his friend in Bangalore for a taxi at Devanahalli. He was planning to escape to Mumbai.

“When he got down from the Manthralaya-Bangalore bus in Devanahalli he was arrested at 4 am by the CCB,” joint commissioner of police Hemanth Nimbalkar said.