Bengaluru: A South Indian film distributor living in Australia has been arrested on charges of blackmailing a married woman of Indian origin who lives in Melbourne.
Police named the man as N Rupesh (39), who was a distributor of hit Kannada films Rangitaranga, Avane Srimannarayana and movies in other languages in Australia.
Lodging a complaint with the Nandini Layout police, the woman explained that she came to know the suspect when she lived in Melbourne with her husband and children.
The woman said she first met Rupesh in Melbourne when she went to a restaurant to get a ticket to an event, and Rupesh chatted her up and invited her to have a drink. He also allegedly persuaded her to smoke a hukka, and took photographs of her in his company.
Later, Rupesh allegedly started blackmailing the woman by threatening to post on social media photos of them together. He also alleged forced her into giving sexual favors.
“Rupesh tortured me and extorted about Rs 5-6 lakh from me. He came home when my husband and children were not there and forced me to have sex and demanded money on many occasions. When this became unbearable, I returned to India and resided with my in-laws in Nandini Layout,” she told police.
The accused Rupesh allegedly followed her to India and continued to blackmail her.
With the woman deciding to lodge a complaint with the police, Rupesh was arrested and charged with IPC sections 384 (extortion), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 506 (criminal intimidation). He is in judicial custody.
