Rajasthan Man Posing As "Love Guru" Arrested For Extortion, Blackmailing

The Ahmedabad City Cyber Crime Branch has dismantled a sophisticated blackmailing racket operated by an individual posing as a woman astrologer and "Love Guru" on social media.

The accused, identified as Rajnish Govindlal Bhargava, a B.A. graduate from Bikaner, Rajasthan, was arrested within seven days of the complaint being filed.

Operating under the pseudonym Pooja Kinnar Guruma, Bhargava allegedly targeted individuals seeking solutions for marital and relationship issues through Instagram and Facebook.

According to police officials, the scam involved creating multiple fake profiles, such as astrologer_pooja_kinnar_maa and kinnargurumatasushilaji, to project an identity as a Kinnar or female guru to build trust and conceal his true identity.

Victims were lured through advertisements promising vashikaran and specialised rituals to solve personal problems. Once contact was established via WhatsApp, the accused would request personal photographs under the pretext of performing religious ceremonies.

The investigation revealed a darker turn in the modus operandi where the accused would edit the victims' photos and threaten to make them viral.

Under intense mental pressure, victims were forced to undress during video calls for what was described as a shudhikaran vidhi or purification ritual. The accused recorded these calls, obtaining nude footage to further blackmail the victims. '

In the current case, the perpetrator successfully extorted 1,43,951 through various transactions by threatening to leak the recorded content after the victims refused to pay further demands.

Financial analysis of the accounts used in the crime indicates a massive scale of operation, with transactions totaling approximately 60 lakh over the last two years.

In just the past month, the accused contacted nearly 300 different mobile numbers and defrauded more than 65 victims.

While Rajnish Bhargava is currently in custody on a four-day remand, the police have identified two other accomplices from Bikaner, Vikas Pokhraj Bhargava and Ravi Satyanarayan Bhargava, who remain at large.

The Cyber Crime Branch continues its investigation into the four bank accounts linked to the gang, which have already been flagged in eight other cyber fraud complaints across different states.