Mumbai: An extortion section has been added to the charges slapped on designer Aniksha Jaisinghani, who was arrested on Thursday for threatening and blackmailing Amruta Fadnavis, the wife of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Aniksha had sent two videos to Amruta, threatening to make these viral unless she shelled out Rs 10 crore. The video, however, was not shot by Aniksha and Mumbai Police are looking for its creator.
Aniksha had demanded Rs 10 crore from Amruta Fadnavis: Police
According to Mumbai Police, Aniksha had demanded Rs 10 crore from Amruta in two videos. In a home video, Aniksha is seen filling a bag with money. The impression conveyed is that she is counting the money going into the bag and that she has now filled it with Rs 1 crore.
The bag is shown fully packed and Aniksha is having trouble zipping it shut because it is so crammed with notes. With considerable force, the bag is zipped.
Afterwards, Aniksha takes the same bag and goes to Sagar, the official residence of Devendra Fadnavis, and hands over the bag to the domestic helper, saying it has to be given to Amruta madam. At the time of lodging the complaint with the Malabar Hill Police on February 20, both these videos were handed over to the police by Amruta Fadnavis.
Both videos were sent to the forensic lab, which reported that in the first video, the bag is seen to be full but in the second one, though the bag is the same, it is not as full to the brim, as the first one.
Aniksha wanted to prove that she had given bag full of money to Amruta
According to a police officer, through these videos, Aniksha wanted to prove that she had given a bag full of money to the help at Sagar Bungalow, wanting to blackmail Amruta Fadnavis. But when she could not do so, she demanded Rs 10 crore from Amruta by threatening to make this video viral.
Aniksha sent Amruta WhatsApp messages, saying “You do not know my father, I know what my father is. My father is very angry with you. I have your video, I will make it viral. If you want to stop this video from going viral, then give 10 crore rupees.”
She had reportedly talked to Amruta about getting some bookies arrested, telling the latter that if the police were to act against these bookies, she could make a good amount of money but Amruta refused. Aniksha is then said to have given an envelope to an employee at Amruta’s house with the names of the bookies written on a sheet of paper, instructing that the envelope be given to (Amruta) madam.
Codenames were used for the bookies, which Amruta could not understand. Police are likely to take a handwriting sample from Aniksha to match it with the writing on this letter.
Police officer said Aniksha demanded Rs 10 crore on Feb 22
A police officer said that at the time Amruta Fadnavis had filed an FIR on February 20, the police had registered a case under the Corruption Act, which Aniksha was not aware of, but on February 22, when she demanded Rs 10 crore by threatening to make the video viral, section 385 of the IPC was added in the case.
Police sources say that the Aniksha videos were shot by another person, and police are on the lookout for that person.
A senior police officer said that Aniksha has been in contact with her father Anil Jaisinghani, but how she has sustained contact is being investigated, as her father has been absconding for the last five years. Police suspect that the father-daughter has been chatting through an app.
