The Bengaluru police on Monday arrested a preschool principal for allegedly extorting cash from the daddy of a five-year-old pupil of the institute with whom she was in a relationship.
The Central Crime Department (CCB) additionally arrested two of her associates who allegedly blackmailed the 34-year-old mum or dad by threatening to leak his personal photographs on social media if he didn’t pay Rs 20 lakh to the accused instructor, Sridevi Rudagi.
Rudagi, 25, who runs the pre-school, and Ganesh Kale, 38, and Sagar, 28, have been remanded in judicial custody.
In response to the police, Ramesh (identify modified), a 34-year-old dealer from Kalasipalya in West Bengaluru, turned acquainted with Rudagi after he enrolled one in every of his daughters within the preschool in 2023 and their relationship grew stronger.
“Ramesh bought a separate SIM card and cellphone to speak with Rudagi, exchanging messages and video calls by way of WhatsApp.
Sometimes, they met in individual. Over time, she extracted Rs 4 lakh from him. In January, Rudagi allegedly demanded Rs 15 lakh and steered they dwell collectively. She additionally visited Ramesh’s dwelling when his household was away and borrowed Rs 50,000,” mentioned an officer.
Investigations revealed that Rudagi additionally intimidated the sufferer by making false claims about her robust connections with a former assistant commissioner of police within the Malleswaram sub-division.
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The police mentioned that the connection soured in early March when Ramesh, who was in monetary misery, sought the switch certificates of his daughter as he was planning to relocate his household to Gujarat.
“At Rudagi’s workplace, he was confronted by Kale and Sagar who demanded Rs 20 lakh to maintain the alleged personal movies and photographs of him with Rudagi a secret. To safeguard his popularity, Ramesh agreed to pay Rs 15 lakh and initially transferred Rs 1.9 lakh. Nevertheless, Kale and Sagar continued to stress him for the remaining quantity,” mentioned an officer.
In response to the police, Rudagi referred to as Ramesh on March 17, insisting on the excellent quantity and allegedly advised him that Rs 5 lakh could be given to the previous ACP, whereas Sagar and Kale would every obtain Rs 1 lakh. The remaining Rs 8 lakh, she claimed, could be hers in change for deleting the personal materials.
Because the threats escalated, Ramesh approached the police.
The police have registered a case underneath sections 140 (2) (kidnapping), 308 (2) (extortion), 308 (4) (committing of extortion, places or makes an attempt to place any individual in worry of loss of life) and 351(2) (felony intimidation) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).