Mysore/Mysuru: A man allegedly befriended a 36-year-old divorcee woman on Facebook (FB), later blackmailed and swindled Rs. 25 lakh from her, besides carrying out a murder attempt on the woman’s son recently.

Following a complaint from the woman, Kuvempunagar Police have booked a case against the accused, identified as Sumanth, his girlfriend (name not known) and his parents Ananth and Leelavathi.

The victim woman, who was living along with her 16-year-old son, after divorcing her husband 11 years ago, came into contact with Sumanth of Ramakrishna Nagar ‘I’ Block in city on Facebook, two years ago. Sumanth gave hopes of marrying her, prompting the latter to vacate the rented house she was living in at Vijayanagar and move into Sumanth’s house in Ramakrishna Nagar, according to the complaint.

Sumanth, who had recorded the intimate moments with the woman, in his cell phone had allegedly swindled Rs. 25 lakh from her through blackmail. If she did not heed to his demand, he had allegedly threatened to make them (intimate moments) public, by sharing them along with her relatives and friends, apart from uploading them on social networking sites and complaining to Police that she was running a flesh trade. Sumanth, who was coming home drunk daily, was allegedly beating her. When she conceived, he had spiked ORS powder with pills, only to abort the pregnancy. He was also in relationship with another woman and he had also issued a murder threat in WhatsApp message and video call made from her (another woman) cell phone.

On Jan. 5 at around 11 pm, Sumanth’s parents Ananth and Leelavathi, who came to Ramakrishna Nagar home, instigated their son to pick up a quarrel with the victim. Unable to bear the torture, the woman, along with her son, shifted to another rented house in J. P. Nagar a few days ago. Sumanth, who came near her home on the midnight of Feb. 21, when the victim’s son was alone, yelled in abusive tone on the road. On Feb. 22, when her son was walking back home from college, along with his friend, on Avalakki Factory Road in J.P. Nagar, Sumanth and his girlfriend who came in a car (KA-09-MG-6993) allegedly tried to run over him. However, the boy escaped without any injuries, by moving aside.

Meanwhile, Sumanth and his girlfriend called the victim woman and blackmailed her for money, threatening to get rid of both her and her son, otherwise, according to the Police complaint.