Yoga instructor arrested for 'taking secret pictures and blackmailing female student'

Former national judo gold medallist accused of campaign of harassment

The instructor is accused of blackmail (File photo) (Getty)

A yoga instructor has been arrested on suspicion of stalking and blackmailing a former client with indecent images he had secretly taken of her.

Sonu Sharma, from New Delhi, India, is accused of conducting a campaign of harassment against the woman after she refused his advances.

Mr Sharma developed feelings for the victim some months after she employed him as her personal yoga instructor, police told the Hindustan Times.

After she declined his advances, he allegedly captured videos and images of her in the hope of coercing her into having a physical relationship with him.

The victim said when she terminated his services he threatened to upload the content to the internet, according to reports.

A police officer told the publication: “The termination irked Sharma. He allegedly created her fake Facebook profile and began posting her morphed pictures. He allegedly also started stalking the woman. Fed up with his harassment, the woman approached the police.”

Police launched an investigation after the woman filed a case against the 27-year-old former national judo gold medallist but he absconded before they were able to arrest him.

The women claimed he continued to harass her while on the run by sending messages and posting doctored pictures on WhatsApp, Facebook messenger and Instagram.

Mr Sharma allegedly also started sending explicit images and messages to the woman’s 16-year-old female relative and threatened to publicly disgrace her by posting her photos online.

He was finally apprehended in Bhiwani and had allegedly used more than 10 fake Facebook profiles to send message to his victims, local media reported.

Harendra Singh, additional deputy commissioner of police, said: “After a brief investigation it was found that accused has procured the SIM used in crime through a fake ID, however after some efforts we were able track his location and a raid was conducted to arrest him.”