London: A 27-year-old Indian man was caught in the United Kingdom while allegedly attempting to sexually groom a minor. A video has now gone viral, showing the man, identified as Pravna Bhatt, pleading with local vigilantes, who identified themselves as British patriots.
Bhatt can be heard pleading for leniency when questioned about his online conversations with individuals he believed to be minors.
The matter has been reported by NDTV, which could not confirm if the man was caught using a decoy profile — a common tactic in online grooming investigations — or if he actually tried to groom an underage girl.
Bhatt said in the video that he moved to the UK three years ago on a
student visa and was currently residing in the country on a post-study visa after completing his education at the University of Leeds.
He accepted sending sexually explicit texts to the girl, despite knowing she was 14 years old. In one of the texts, when he got to know about the girl’s age, he allegedly wrote “I will go to jail”, along with laughing emojis.
Bhatt accepted that he continued sending her inappropriate texts and asked her to ‘sneak’ into his room to “make love”, despite knowing he was committing a felony. He also sent her a video of himself masturbating.
Bhatt then also tried to borrow money from the girl and asked her to pay for a room for both of them at a hotel. He appeared to have been caught while he was waiting to meet her.
The clip showed the Indian man admitting to his wrongdoing and seeking forgiveness after being caught. “This is the first time I have done this, and it will be the last time… Please give me a last chance… I’m really sorry,” he told the “British patriots”.
He also pleaded with them not to call the police on him.
In January, another viral video showed the arrest of another Indian man Gureet Jeetesh in the city of Coventry on suspicion of online grooming of minors. Jeetesh had arrived in Britain around three months ago and had been living in a student accommodation.