Published Oct 19, 2026 | 10:34 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 19, 2026 | 10:34 PM
Hyderabad police. (Wikimedia)
Synopsis: Telangana police have arrested 23-year-old Kondabattula Pavan Kumar for allegedly using fake social media profiles posing as a woman to obtain private photographs and videos and blackmail victims. He allegedly contacted more than 1,000 people over four years, 82 of whom sent him nude images or videos. Police said he extorted ₹25.16 lakh from the victims, including a former classmate.
The Telangana police on Monday, October 19, arrested a 23-year-old man for allegedly creating fake social media profiles posing as a woman to lure people, obtain their private photos and videos, and extort money.
The accused, Kondabattula Pavan Kumar, is a resident of Kukatpally, Hyderabad, and hails from Kothagudem. A case has been registered at Saidabad police station under Sections 308(7) and 351(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Sections 66C, 66D, 66E and 67A of the Information Technology Act.
Police said Pavan Kumar ran 13 Instagram and 14 Facebook accounts, mostly using photographs of a Kolkata woman under the name “Chandana”. Charminar Zone DCP Khare Kiran Prabhakar said he sent follow requests, steered chats towards sexual conversations and sent nude pictures to coax victims into sharing their own. He then used the pictures to blackmail them.
Over the past four years, he allegedly texted more than 1,000 people, 82 of whom sent him nude photographs or videos. The total amount he obtained from the victims through cheating and extortion stands at ₹25.16 lakh, the DCP said.
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Among his targets were his own classmates from a diploma course he had dropped out of, from whom he allegedly extorted ₹4 lakh. Another victim, a software engineer, was allegedly duped of ₹7 lakh on the promise of investment and higher returns.
The victims include people from Andhra Pradesh, Keralam, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Punjab. The DCP said the accused also tried to extort people in Dubai, Turkey, Pakistan and Canada. The police suspect more people were duped and the amount extorted could be much higher.
The police seized three mobile phones, a laptop and a pen drive. An analysis of a phone revealed thousands of WhatsApp chats, photographs and videos. The woman whose photographs were misused has been alerted through her workplace and the local police.
(Edited by Dese Gowda with inputs from Sreshta Ladegaam)
