Mangaluru: A 19-year-old youth posing as a woman was arrested by the Urwa police on Tuesday on charges of blackmail and extortion.

The youth, Aditya alias Ashwini alias Aradhya of Subedarpalya in Yeshwantapur befriended people on social media, coerce them to share their pictures and later used to blackmail them with the same pictures.

A Urwa resident who fell prey to the blackmail tactics of Aditya, and reportedly even paid a sum of Rs 65,000 approached the Urwa police to file a complaint against the accused as they continued to pester him for more money.

Acting on a tip-off, the Urva police on Tuesday arrested Aditya and his accomplice Arun H S, 27, of Ramanagara district from near Columbia hospital in Bengaluru.

Urwa police station inspector Ravish Nayak and staff conducted the operation under the guidance of Commissioner T.R Suresh, DCP Uma Prashanth and Central Sub-Division ACP Uday Nayak.