Surat: A 48-year-old man has been arrested after a woman alleged that he had been blackmailing and sexually assaulting her since the last seven years.The accused, who is married and has eight children, including seven daughters, allegedly morphed photographs of himself with the victim and circulated them on social media by creating a group, police said.According to the FIR, accused Mamaiya Vatukiya came into contact with the victim’s father in 2019 while carrying out furniture work at his house. The two subsequently developed family relations.The accused allegedly obtained screenshots of the victim’s chats with a boy and used them to threaten her. He reportedly told her that he would make the screenshots public if she did not submit to him.According to the complaint, the accused first sexually assaulted the victim in 2019 and allegedly recorded a video of her. Later, he repeatedly assaulted her while threatening to circulate the video.Recently, the accused allegedly created a social media group and posted morphed photographs showing himself with the victim. In the images, he is seen allegedly garlanding the victim and applying sindoor to her forehead.Laskana police inspector Meena Zala said the accused, who works as a land broker, had been arrested. Police are investigating who created and circulated the morphed photographs, as the posts were reportedly shared from unknown numbers.
