AJK court remands 2 suspects in police custody in woman’s harassment case

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A judicial magistrate in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) Sudhnoti district on Monday remanded two suspects into police custody for a week following their arrest in a case of allegedly blackmailing and extorting money from a married woman.

A first information report (FIR) was filed at Baloch Police Station on Saturday under Sections 292 (obscene material), 322 (manslaughter), 384 (extortion), and 489-Y (related to harm to privacy of and reputation) of the Azad Penal Code as well as section 10(3) of the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979.

Complainant Arshad Mahmood, a resident of Kehala village currently working in Saudi Arabia, reported that he was informed by his brother-in-law on November 15 about his wife’s sudden hospitalisation due to a critical health issue. He said that hours later, he received another call from his brother-in-law about her death and returned home the following day for her burial.

He said that while investigating the circumstances surrounding his wife’s sudden death, he discovered that two men had developed illicit relations with his wife over the past two months.

According to the FIR, the accused recorded compromising footage of the woman during video calls and used it to blackmail her into giving them money and other valuables.

Mahmood said that his wife handed over more than Rs3 million to the suspects, including Rs976,000 from selling her jewellery. Despite meeting their repeated demands, she continued to face blackmail and threats, ultimately leading her to consume poison, he said, urging strict legal action against both suspects and any accomplices.

Baloch Station House Officer (SHO) Waqar Azeem told Dawn.com that both suspects were apprehended the same night after police used local intelligence and technology to track their whereabouts.

He said preliminary investigation revealed that the first suspect, a neighbour of Mahmood, had allegedly shared the woman’s contact details and other information with the second suspect, asking him to trap her to fulfil their demands.

SHO Azeem said the second suspect reportedly initiated contact with the victim and recorded compromising video calls, which he later used for extortion and exploitation. He added that on October 19, the second suspect impersonated a third blackmailer, using an unknown SIM card and a local dialect to demand Rs2m, threatening to leak the footage if his demands were not met.

Azeem said that under duress, the woman sold her jewellery and handed over Rs 976,000 to the second suspect, who kept his face hidden, at Kehala Chowk on October 20. Days later, continuing to impersonate a third party, he demanded an additional Rs1.5m, which the woman was unable to arrange, the SHO added.

Azeem said that unable to fulfil the demands, the woman sought financial help from relatives under the pretext that her husband needed the money in Saudi Arabia and allegedly died by suicide when her efforts failed.

The SHO said the police had recovered incriminating evidence, including the compromising material, from the suspects’ mobile phones and booked them under the FIR’s sections.

“More disclosures will come up during further investigation, on the basis of which we will definitely ensure justice for the victim and her family,” the SHO said.