New Delhi:
During the day, he works as a recruiter at a private company in Noida in Uttar Pradesh. At night, he transforms into an American model during a soul-searching trip to India. His day job gave him security, and his nightly activities brought in the money through manipulation and blackmail. Tushar Singh Bisht, 23, was arrested in East Delhi's Shakarpur area on Friday for duping more than 700 women by posing as models on dating platforms.
A resident of Delhi, Tushar has a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration (BBA). For the past three years, he was working as a technical recruiter at a private company in Noida.
His father works as a driver, his mother is a housewife and his sister works in Gurugram. Despite having a steady job, Tushar entered the world of cybercrime, largely motivated by greed and lust for women.
Modus Operandi
Using a virtual international mobile number obtained through an app, Tushar created fake profiles on popular dating and social media platforms such as Bumble and Snapchat. He posed as a US-based freelance model visiting India, using a made-up persona with photos and stories stolen from a real Brazilian model. His targets were mainly women aged 18 to 30, whom he befriended through these platforms.
Once he gained their trust, Tushar asked for their phone numbers and intimate photos or videos under the guise of friendship. Without his victims knowing, he saved the images on his phone. Initially, these activities were conducted for personal entertainment, but over time they evolved into a systematic extortion scheme, police said.
According to police, Tushar used these images to blackmail women into giving him money. If a victim were to refuse his demands for money, he would threaten to upload the explicit content online or sell it on the dark web.
The victims
According to police findings, Tushar contacted more than 500 women on Bumble and more than 200 on Snapchat and WhatsApp. He collected a wealth of intimate content, which he used to blackmail his victims. One such case came to light when a second-year student of Delhi University filed a complaint with the cyber police station on December 13, 2024. Her ordeal started in January the same year when she connected with Tushar on Bumble. He introduced himself as a US-based model and started a friendship that later moved to private chats on WhatsApp and Snapchat.
During their conversations, the victim shared personal photos and videos with him. When she requested a personal meeting, he consistently avoided her under various pretexts. Soon after, he sent her one of her private videos and demanded money, threatening to leak or sell the material if she didn't comply. Initially, the student succumbed to the pressure, paying a small amount while explaining her financial limitations as a student. However, Tushar's incessant demands prompted her to confide in her family and file a formal complaint.
The research
The West Delhi Cyber Police Station formed a team under the supervision of ACS Arvind Yadav. A combination of technical analysis and intelligence gathering helped the team trace Tushar's activities and identify him as the suspect. A quick raid in Shakarpur led to his arrest.
During the operation, police seized a mobile phone with incriminating data, a virtual international mobile number linked to his criminal activities, and thirteen credit cards from various banks. Police have also retrieved more than 60 WhatsApp chat records with women from Delhi and nearby regions. Preliminary findings revealed that in addition to the complainant, at least four other women had been similarly extorted by Tushar.
The investigation revealed two bank accounts linked to Tushar. One account contained payments from his victims, while details of the second account are still under investigation.
