The Pune Rural police have arrested two youths for allegedly extorting gold worth Rs 3.5 lakh from a 14-year-boy addicted to online gaming.
Police said the minor is a school student and a resident of Koregaon Bhima in Pune district. His 40-year-old father had lodged an FIR at Shikrapur police station on October 15.
Police have identified the arrested persons as Mayur alias Shashikant Bhisad (21) and Kishor Dahale (22), both residents of Parbhani.
Special inspector general of police (Kolhapur range) Sunil Phulare said at a press conference that the minor boy, while doing some studies online on mobile phone, started playing online games and got addicted to it.
The boy tried to get an ID for ‘free fire’ online game, when the accused Bhisade communicated with him over Instagram. The accused demanded gold from the boy on an assurance to provide him the ID for the online game.
Police said the boy was so addicted to online gaming that to get its ID, he handed over gold ornaments worth Rs 3.5 lakh at his home to the accused persons on October 10.
Inspector Deepratan Gaikwad said the accused came to Pune, all the way from Parbhani district, to accept the gold from the boy. But the online gaming ID they gave to the boy allegedly did not work. They demanded Rs 50,000 more from the boy for the ID.
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After knowing about it, the boy’s father reported the incident to the police. Accordingly, the police booked the accused persons under sections 318 (4), 95, 308 (5), 49, 351 (2) (3), 3 (5) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and sections of the Juvenile Justice (care and protection of children) Act.
A special team led by deputy superintendent of police Prashant Dhole was formed to investigate the case. Cops probed the social media chats of the victim boy, digital transactions related to the case and other details.
Based on leads obtained during the investigation, the police arrested accused Bhisad on October 15. The probe revealed that he had sold gold ornaments taken from the minor boy to Dahale. Police then arrested Dahale on October 19. Police said they have so far recovered gold ornaments worth Rs 1,52,820 from the accused persons.
Sandeep Singh Gill, Superintendent of Police, Pune Rural, said parents should be cautious and check whether mobile phones given to their children for studies are not being misused.
