Kasaragod: Melparamba police have arrested seven persons, including a couple from Kozhikode, for alleged sexual extortion of a 59-year-old man in Kasaragod.

According to the FIR, the gang allegedly extorted Rs 5 lakh from the complainant by threatening to share his nude photographs with the Kozhikode woman with his family and neighbours. "But I approached the police when they demanded Rs 30 lakh more," the complainant, a Gulf returnee now engaged in farming and social work, told Onmanorama. "If that went on, I would have had to end my life," he said.

Melparamba Police identified the accused as Rubeena M P (29) from Kozhikode's Kuttikattoor, her husband Faisal P (37) from Kozhikode's Perumanna, Ahamed Dilshad M (40) and Abdulla Kunhi (32) of Mangad village in Kasaragod's Udma grama panchayat, Nafeesath Misiriya (40) of Muttathody in Chengala panchayat in Kasaragod, Siddique N (48) of Shiribagilu in Madhur grama panchayat in Kasaragod, and Rafeek Muhammed (50) of Padanakkad in Kanhangad.

They have been booked for extortion (Section 384 of IPC), blackmailing for extortion (Section 389 of IPC), wrongful confinement (Section 342 of IPC), voluntarily causing hurt (Section 342), criminal intimidation (Section 506 (1) of IPC) and common intent (Section 34 of IPC).

Police suspect Dilshad might have hatched the sextortion because the complainant is from his same Mangad village and knew his financial condition. But the complainant said he did not know any of the accused till January 23, when Rubeena contacted him over the phone and introduced herself as Lubna.

According to the FIR, Rubeena allegedly got in touch with the complainant seeking financial help to buy a laptop on January 23.

On January 25, Rubeena and the complainant allegedly went to Mangaluru to buy the laptop. In Mangaluru, the two checked into a hotel room where Rubeena allegedly took his nude photographs. Later, the accused started blackmailing him for money.

However, the complainant said that the FIR reflected only half of his version and the other half was Rubeena's story. "It is true that she contacted me on January 23. But she introduced me to Dilshad and Siddique who said they were real estate brokers," he said. "I don't know any of them," he insisted.

On January 25, the complainant said, Dilshad and Siddique took him to Mangaluru to show him a building put up for sale. In the city, they were joined by Rubeena and the four of them went to a restaurant. "While we were having tea, all of them left, leaving me with the woman," he said. "Now I suspect the restaurant owner was also part of the racket," he said.

The restaurant has a lodge on the first floor. "She took me to a room there, disrobed me, and took two photographs. One in which I was nude and one with her," he said.

Later, they allegedly started blackmailing him, threatening to show the photographs to his family members and neighbours. They also took him to a house in Padannakkad in Kanhangad, where he was allegedly detained and assaulted, according to the FIR. The complainant said he could not recall whose house it was. To be sure, the sixth accused Rafeek Muhammed is from Padannakkad.

Under pressure, the complainant said, he transferred Rs 10,000 to the accused via GPay on January 26. Then gave Rs 4,90,000 in cash to them.

But after four days, they demanded Rs 30 lakh. "When I approached the police, they said I should not have given them Rs 5 lakh. But I had to pay them to protect my dignity," he said.

Criminal past
Faisal has a sexual assault and trafficking case (Sections 376 and 370 of IPC) against him in Hosdurg Police Station in Kanhangad, said Rajapuram Station House Officer Inspector Krishnan K, who is investigating the sextortion case. The case was registered in 2022.

Kozhikode City Police's Kasaba station is investigating Faisal and his wife Rubeena for cheating and criminal breach of trust (Sections 420 and 406 of IPC) on a complaint filed by Abdul Rahman of Muliyar in Kasaragod, said Inspector Krishnan.

Rubeena is also an accused in the assault of a health inspector during a protest by the UDF in Kozhikode in 2019. Nadakavu police are investigating the case. 
Dilshad has a 2010 theft case pending against him in Bekal police station, said the inspector.