Mumbai Doctor Blackmailed Over Nude Pics, ₹94.47 Lakh Extorted By Fake MBBS Student; Cyber Police Probe Sextortion Scam

Mumbai: A 35-year-old orthopaedic surgeon from Gleneagles Hospital in Parel, Dr Diwit J, lost Rs 94.47 lakh to an unidentified woman posing as a medical student. The Central Cyber police have registered a case for sextortion.

About The Case

According to the FIR, the scammer, identified as Soumya Mandipsingh Awasthi, contacted the doctor through Instagram under the ID “spamsofjass”.

After the doctor accepted her friend request, the two began chatting on WhatsApp. Soumya claimed to be a student at Gyansagar Medical College in Chandigarh. She told him she was lonely and depressed because her parents lived in Delhi. Soon, their conversations turned intimate, and she began demanding expensive gifts. The doctor transferred money to her bank account, and she assured him she would share receipts but never did so.

Later, Soumya sent the doctor nude photographs and persuaded him to reciprocate with his own nude photos and videos. She promised to meet him in Mumbai, following which he bought business-class tickets for her. However, he discovered her name was not on the passenger list. On May 2, she sent him a web link and screenshots of their private chats, claiming her WhatsApp account had been hacked by a Thai hacker named “Pegasus”, who was demanding 3.10 Bitcoin (worth Rs 2.5 crore) to prevent leaking their conversations. When the doctor asked for details, she refused to provide them.

Instead, she convinced him that she had already sold her jewellery and borrowed money from friends to pay the hacker to gain his sympathy. The same day, she sent him a draft email threatening to report him to his hospital and the medical council for sexual abuse. Fearing exposure, the doctor transferred Rs 94.47 lakh to her through 42 separate transactions, taking loans and transferring money from his Axis Bank and Union Bank of India accounts to a Central Bank of India account provided by her. The doctor grew suspicious when the beneficiary account details under Soumya’s name reflected Jasmeen Kaur.

On August 8, while checking her Instagram profile, he noticed a friend named Sarthak Jain. On reviewing Sarthak’s profile, he found a group photograph featuring Soumya Awasthi. The caption of the photo mentioned “Government PG College, Chandigarh, Bachelor of Arts”. A search of the college website confirmed the name Soumya Rohit Awasthi in the 2021 BA admissions list, exposing the fraud. He immediately reported the incident to the Cyber Helpline 1930. Four days later, his wife received a call from an unknown number.

The caller identified herself as Soumya and warned that she had “interesting stuff” to share with her. The doctor has provided the police with screenshots of his chats, bank statements, and photographs of the accused. The cyber police registered a case against an unidentified individual under Sections 318(4) (cheating), 319(2) (cheating by personation), and 308(2) (extortion) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the Information Technology Act, on August 15.