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Adult movie dispute prompts extortion arrest
| Saturday, May 31 2008 1:31 PM
Last Updated: Monday, Jun 2 2008 7:15 AM
A Bakersfield computer wiz was arrested in March for allegedly extorting his business partner after installing pirated media on his computers and threatening to reveal personal information from the victim’s hard drives, recently released search warrants show.
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The suspect, Nick Rahanjam, said the extortion charge has no legs and the apparent victim didn’t want the public to know he intended to make pornographic films.
“I have done nothing against the law,” Rahanjam said. “I have enough to bury him.”
Dave Katragadda, who Bakersfield police say is the victim, could not be reached for comment. Phone messages and e-mails sent to Katragadda were not returned and efforts to reach his home and office were unsuccessful.
Katragadda first met the suspect in January 2007 when Rahanjam sold him computers at Comp-USA, according to the search warrant.
The two became close when Rahanjam built a home theater in Katragadda’s home. Rahanjam also repaired his daughter’s laptop computer.
They later became business partners in a video production company called Vidmada in the fall of 2007, the search warrant said. Katragadda said Rahanjam wrote him an e-mail that proposed making pornographic movies and talking about how lucrative it could be, the search warrant said. Katragadda said he did not want to take part in it.
Rahanjam said it was Katragadda who wanted to make a pornographic film that would be shot more like a documentary. Rahanjam said he has e-mails that support his side.
“He kept talking about making pornography films,” Rahanjam said. “I brushed it off for several months. It got to a point where it was unavoidable.”
After Rahanjam and the other partners in Vidmada decided not to enter the adult industry, Katragadda began acting strange and didn’t fulfill part of his agreement in supporting the video production company, according to Rahanjam.
Rahanjam wrote e-mails that said he captured images of pirated movies on Katragadda’s computers and threatened to talk toThe Californian and the Better Business Bureau, according to the search warrant.
“What will your higher-up friends think about this and other questionable things you do including coercing me to do porn for funds?” Rahanjam said in an e-mail in the search warrant. “This is just a little bit of what is going to tear your whole world apart. If you knew what I have in my arsenal, you would have been a bit more wise, but people like you learn the hard way. So be it.”
Katragadda said he found his name on the Internet Movie Database along with his home address and phone numbers, the search warrant said. The resume on the Web site said Katragadda produced pornographic videos.
Katragadda said he did not authorize the posting.
Rahanjam also sent an e-mail with audio of Katragadda’s wife and daughter talking, according to the search warrant. Katragadda said Rahanjam was not allowed to have that audio file and that he may have copied it from his daughter’s laptop.
Rahanjam said the audio contained the women talking about Katragadda’s illegal business ventures and personal problems.
“Once we have reached a mutual settlement, I will agree to forfeit/destroy any sensitive materials I have of you and will agree to never use them in anyway shape or form,” Rahanjam wrote to Katragadda.
Police executed a search warrant at Rahanjam’s studio in the 4000 block of Ashe Road and took his computer equipment earlier this year.
Rahanjam was arrested on suspicion of attempted extortion on March 13, according to Sgt. Greg Terry with the Bakersfield Police Department. He later posted bail.
The Kern County District Attorney’s pffice is reviewing the case and charges have not yet been filed.
Rahanjam said he has done nothing wrong because he only wanted to make Katragadda’s plans of making pornographic films public.
“I threatened to make those business e-mails public, not the personal e-mails,” he said. “I have nothing to hide.”