Varanasi: A Rajasthan-based man has been arrested in connection with the suicide of a 20-year-old undergraduate student in Sonbhadra, who died by suicide in June after allegedly being blackmailed with an AI-generated obscene video.Police said the accused duped the student of Rs 14,500 and later threatened to circulate the fabricated video among his friends, relatives and family members.After being brought to Sonbhadra on transit remand, he was produced before a local court and sent to jail on Saturday.The victim, a resident of Nemna village, died by hanging at his home on June 5. During the investigation, his family told police that he had been receiving repeated calls from an unknown mobile number. Analysis of his mobile phone and bank accounts by the cyber cell revealed that the calls were coming from Alwar in Rajasthan and that money had been transferred from his account to the same region.Police arrested the accused, Waris Khan, from Alwar. He is a resident of Padasla village under the Kishangarhbas police station area in Rajasthan’s Khairthal-Tijara district. A reward of Rs 25,000 had been announced for his arrest.Additional Superintendent of Police Rishabh Runwal said a joint team of Babhani police and the cyber police station was sent to Rajasthan. Police recovered a mobile phone, SIM card and ₹1,050 in cash from the accused.During questioning, Waris admitted that he had posted an advertisement on Facebook offering low-cost laptops. The victim contacted him to buy one. The accused then collected around Rs 14,500 from him in the name of shipping, tax and processing fees. Later, he sent a link to gain access to the victim’s mobile phone data and used AI tools to create an obscene video.The accused allegedly threatened to send the fabricated video to the victim’s friends, relatives and family members and continued to blackmail him.Police said evidence of the fraud was found on the accused’s mobile phone.According to police, Waris Khan has previously been involved in several cyber fraud cases, including a Telegram task fraud in Haryana, a customer care scam in Gujarat, a laptop-selling fraud in Rajasthan, and a fraud in West Bengal involving the exchange of old notes for new currency.Police have formed a team to identify and arrest other associates involved in the racket.
