A tale of sex, lies and videotape ended late on Wednesday with the arrest of a 30-year-old software engineer for allegedly blackmailing a woman in her 40s with intimate footage that he threatened to upload on the Net.

Police arrested the accused, Subhro Chatterjee, when he came calling on the schoolteacher, a widow and mother of one, at her Paikpara Road home to demand more money.

“Subhro, who is from Garia, was arrested after the woman managed to alert us. He has been charged with extortion as he used the video clippings to threaten her and demand Rs 5 lakh. She had earlier paid him Rs 50,000,” said Damayanti Sen, the joint commissioner of police, crime.

Subhro was produced in Sealdah court and remanded in police custody for six days.

“He had completed a course in software engineering from Bangalore and worked in a BPO there for a couple of years. He was on drugs. He returned to Calcutta eight months ago and was searching for a job,” said an officer of Chitpur police station.

According to the complaint lodged by the teacher of an English-medium school in Dum Dum, she had met Subhro six months ago through a common friend. They first started chatting on the phone and soon started meeting at the woman’s house.

“Subhro would often record their intimate moments on his cellphone, for fun,” said an officer.

The affair continued for four months, with things slowly turning sour.

“The woman decided to break up as she was put off by Subhro’s behaviour that had apparently changed over time. Last month, she told Subhro it was over and made it clear that he should not visit her or even call her,” said the officer.

Spurned, the youth apparently decided to hit her where it would hurt.

“He called her and told her that he had saved every intimate moment they had shared on his cellphone. He said they were all stored in a pen-drive and it would take just a click to do the damage,” said an officer.

Subhro not only threatened to circulate the footage among her family and friends, but also upload them on social networking portals and pornographic sites.

The woman panicked and pleaded with him not to do so. He then named his price for privacy — Rs 5 lakh.

The woman managed to pay her harasser Rs 50,000 from her savings earlier this month. But the youth had scented blood and he continued hounding her for more.

“Subhro came to the woman’s house on Wednesday night and asked her to pay up. He even assaulted her. The woman then managed to call the police,” said the officer.

Officers from Chitpur police station rushed to the woman’s house and picked up Subhro.

Extortion is a non-bailable offence carrying a sentence of imprisonment up to 10 years.