Kerala couple held for alleged Rs 30 cr extortion attempt on IT firm owner

PTI, July 29, 2025, Kochi :  Police in Kerala on Tuesday arrested a couple accused of trying to extort Rs 30 crore from the owner of an IT company in Kochi's Infopark, by threatening to tarnish his reputation and implicate him in a false rape case.

    

The first accused, Swetha Babu, had earlier worked at the company but resigned.

According to police, she and her husband, Krishna Raj, spread rumours that she had an illicit relationship with the IT company owner. They then allegedly warned they would lodge a rape complaint against him unless he paid them.

On July 23, the couple met company staff -- including two employees and a director -- at a hotel. They allegedly demanded Rs 30 crore, asking for Rs 10 crore to be transferred immediately into Krishna Raj's account, and the rest in two cheques, police said.

They were accused of saying that if the demand was not met, the company would suffer huge losses.

Over the next few days, the accused allegedly withdrew Rs 50,000 from the IT company owner's account and obtained a cheque worth Rs 20 crore from the company's director, they said.

Following a complaint, Kochi Central Police launched an investigation under the direction of Deputy Commissioner of Police Juwanapadi Mahesh.

A team led by Central ACP Siby Tom arrested the couple and recovered the Rs 20 crore cheque leaf and agreement papers from them, police said.