Major films girl in nude, arrested

Army Major films girl in nude, arrested
TNN

PANAJI: Panaji police arrested an army major on Monday for outraging the modesty of a 19-year-old Mumbai college student by filming her in the nude and using the footage to blackmail her.

Panaji police said that major Tarun Singh, 27, from New Delhi, presently posted at Corps Signal, Srinagar, filmed the 19-year-old girl who was on vacation along with her mother and aunt and staying in the same city hotel as Singh.

Singh, a bachelor, was on a holiday with his family — parents and sister — and the family had checked into a room adjacent to the victim's on May 9.

According to the police, at around 4.30 pm on May 9, Singh, from his room balcony leant over and dislodging the bathroom ventilator of the girl's room filmed her nude on his cellphone. "The girl got suspicious and informed her mother, but they didn't find anything. However, they received a call from a male on the room intercom at 1.30 am on May 10," police sources said.

The girl's mother answered the phone and the caller told the mother about possessing video of the girl in the nude and asked to meet her. The mother, however, declined and said that they would meet and discuss the situation in the morning.

"In the morning, when they opened the door, they found a note stating that the writer of the note had the girl's nude video and if she didn't meet him by 10 am on May 11, he would upload the footage on the internet," police sources said. The note had an email address for the girl to contact him.

On the same day the accused made two calls on the room intercom. While he didn't speak the first time as the mother received the call, the second time when the girl answered, he again threatened her, police sources said.

"Upset, the girl filed a police complaint on Sunday," police sources said.

A police team led by Panaji PI N Raposo searched the hotel and zeroed in on the army officer. "On checking his laptop we found the girl's video stored in it. The accused admitted to transferring the clip from his mobile to the laptop," added police sources. They have attached both the mobile and the laptop.

May 12,2009, The Times of India, Goa edition