Bookie Extorted Amruta Fadnavis To Save Himself From Criminal Cases: Court

Suspected bookie Anil Jaisinghani and his daughter Aniksha in conspiracy tried to bribe Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's wife Amruta Fadnavis and also used private messages to extort money from her when she refused to save Jaisinghani from several FIRs lodged against him, a special court has said.

Special Judge Deepak Almale, designated to hear anti-corruption cases, refused bail to Anil Jaisinghani on April 1.

The father-daughter duo are accused of attempting to blackmail and bribe Amruta Fadnavis.

As per the detailed order which was made available on Tuesday, the father-daughter duo hatched a conspiracy by which Aniksha developed friendly relations with Amruta Fadnavis and then requested her to "save her father from the several criminal cases pending against him as the husband of the complainant (Amruta Fadnavis) is a public servant".

Aniksha tried to offer a bribe of Rs one crore to Amruta Fadnavis, the court said.

"It is the case of the prosecution that when the complainant denied to act according to Aniksha, she (Aniksha) sent videos, voice notes and screen shots to the complainant's mobile and tried to extort and made a demand of Rs 10 crore to return the same," the court said in its order.

The investigation in the case is still on and there are 17 other cases pending against Anil Jaisinghani, it said.

"....therefore there is every possibility that the accused may flee away if he is released on bail," the order said.

The Malabar Hill police station in south Mumbai on February 20 registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Anil Jaisinghani and Aniksha for allegedly threatening to make public certain audio and video clips that purportedly show Amruta Fadnavis accepting favours from Aniksha.

They were booked for offences under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) and Section 385 (extortion) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 8 (induce public servant using corrupt means) and 12 (abetment) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Aniksha, who was arrested on March 17, was granted bail in the case on March 27 by the court.

While the court granted bail to Aniksha on March 27, it rejected Anil Jaisinghani's bail plea.

Anil Jaisinghani, who was arrested by the Mumbai Police from Gujarat, is currently in judicial custody.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)