Mumbai porn racket: 3-4 women threatened, blackmailed by Yasmin Khan’s group to shoot ‘bold’ videos

MUMBAI: While the Charkop police (in suburban Mumbai) registered a fresh FIR against a woman accused in the Mumbai porn racket of February 2021 and who was behind bars for nearly four months, at least 4 more women have alleged that they were blackmailed and threatened by the gang associated with Yasmin Khan, police sources said.

Earlier in August 2021, an SIT or special investigation team was set up by the Property Cell of the Mumbai Police Crime Branch, headed by an ACP (Assistant Commissioner of Police) to investigate cases of similar nature. More than 50 porn racket victims or women complainants were identified by the Property Cell, but the matter went under wraps after a major shakeup in the Mumbai police force, post the arrest of Sachin Vaze (in the Antilia explosives case and the murder of Mansukh Hiren) and other senior officers.

The Charkop police investigating the case, said four persons, including Yasmeen Khan, actor and director Anirudh Prasad Jangade, Amit Paswan and one Aditya have been named in the new FIR registered recently, for threatening and blackmailing a woman to shoot nude and porn videos, sources said that there are several women who were tricked into shooting adult content.

Most of these women are from poorer sections or strata of society and get tricked into these porn rackets run by several “producers” and “APP operators” in Mumbai and other places.

The 29-year-old model who first approached the the Charkop police station in November alleging that she was cheated and threatened and her modesty outraged at the insistence of Khan and her associates is just the tip of the iceberg and sources say at least 20 women in all, in Mumbai itself could be victims of this porn racket.

The accused named in the FIR are identified as Yasmeen Khan, Anirudh Prasad Jangade, Amit Paswan and one Aditya. Jangad has already been arrested by the police and the others are absconding. Two more co-ordinators’ names have surfaced in the investigation, police said.

Yasmeen Khan has approached the Dindoshi Sessions court for anticipatory bail (ABA), but the court turned down her plea for interim relief. The matter is kept for hearing tomorrow, 6th December and the police are to file their “say” in the ABA.

The victim told the police she was first approached by one Rahul Thakur in September and was further asked to meet a person named Kershaw.

He further directed her to a certain Rahul Pandey. Pandey told the model that they needed an actress for their web-series for a mobile application which required “bold scenes” but did not say anything about nude or porn scenes.

According to the victim, Pandey told her in October that the web-series would be released only abroad for paid clients on an OTT app. The woman agreed to be part of the project provided she was paid Rs 50,000 for the shoot.

She met Jangade at Malad station as instructed by Pandey on October 8. She was then taken to a 11th-floor flat of a high-rise apartment at Bhabrekar Nagar in Malad West.

Inside the flat, the complainant met two women, one was a make-up artist and the other was Yasmeen Khan, and two men, later identified as Jangade and Aditya. The latter two were supposed to be actors.

“Yasmeen Khan was the director, producer and camera person and was shooting the scenes. She asked me to remove my clothes and go nude and when I refused and demanded to leave, she threatened me with a defamation case of Rs 15 lakh,” the victim told the police.

She claimed she did the shoot as per Khan’s instructions under threat and was paid Rs 10,000 after the shoot.

However, on November 26, she came to know that her video was up on a porn site and was also being shared in social media groups in which her relatives and friends were members. Yasmeen denied any knowledge about the video and stopped taking her calls.

The flat where the shoot happened was rented by Yasmeen Khan and her group who were using it for shooting web series.

Yasmeen is absconding and filed an anticipatory bail application but no initial ad-hoc relief was granted.

Yasmeen Khan lives in a rented flat at Jankalyan Nagar, Malad West and had rented another apartment in a nearby neighbourhood to make porn films, Charkop police said.

The modus operandi employed by these porn apps is to trick the gullible women by promising them that the videos will not be released or seen in India and will be only accessed abroad. They are then induced and offered huge sums of money to do the shoot, by paying a small token amount. They are told the rest of the payment will be made once the web series episode is released. When they arrive at the shoot location, they are blackmailed and threatened into shooting porn and nude scenes, with promises of the content not being released in India. If they refuse to shoot, they are threatened that police complaints will be filed against them and they will have to compensate the producer for the entire shooting expenses for the day, which could run into a few lakh. The women do the shoot for the lure of the money and also because they are promised by the co-ordinators and casting directors, as well as by the director that the videos will not be seen in India. After the shoot is done, within days, “uncut” or “unedited” promos or “advertisements” to promote the web series are released all over on social media to rope in paid subscribers and new audience.