CHON BURI: Two Indian nationals have been arrested by Pattaya police after an Indian reporter filed a complaint on Sunday, accusing them of stripping him naked and taking pictures of him before demanding money in return for not posting them on social media.
Sumit Kayan, 26, and Rahul Wadhawah, 32, were detained on Sunday by police officers led by Pol Col Apichai Krobphet, the Pattaya police chief. Two cheques and credit cards belonging to the Indian reporter were found with the men.
The arrests came after Anirban Ghosh, 40, the reporter, filed a police complaint, saying he was hired by the two fellow countrymen to travel to Thailand to take pictures to promote a tour company in India.
After checking in at a hotel in Soi Pattaya Park in tambon Nong Prue on the night of June 1, Mr Anirban said he had a heated argument with the two men when they failed to pay him the sum of money agreed to. The two men assaulted him, stripped him naked, tied him up and took pictures of him with their mobile phones, he told police, before forcing him to call his family to ask them to transfer money to them -- or the naked pictures would be posted on popular social media sites in India.
Mr Anirban claimed he gave the two compatriots 200,000 rupees he was carrying for fear of being humiliated as he is a well-known reporter. He was also forced to sign two cheques and give them to the two men, who then fled, he said.
He called a friend who has a Thai girlfriend for help before filing the complaint, leading to the arrests of Mr Sumit and Mr Rahul.