Mumbai:
Investigation into the extortion case involving popular Bhojpuri actress Rani Chatterjee has thrown up the name of lyricist Ritu Raj.
Ajay Pandey, the school teacher posing as tantrik, who threatened the actress to pay him more than Rs 15 lakh if she didn't want him to kill her using mantras, told the Thane Court that Raj had asked him to do so.
Pandey revealed that the idea of threatening Rani was Raj's to begin with. "Raj assured me that nothing would happen to me and asked me to threaten Rani," he told the court.
According to the police, the duo had planned to threaten Rani via text messages and divide the money received when she relented.
The court has ordered the Kashimira police to look for the Bhojpuri lyricist, who is absconding.
"We have put a team in place to hunt down Raj, who, we know, is somewhere in Uttar Pradesh. We'll know who the real culprit is only after he is caught."
Speaking to Mid DAY Rani said, "I don't know who Ritu Raj is. I have never heard of him. I only know that Pandey used to text me and threaten me to pay the money if I wanted to live."
Investigations by the police have revealed that Raj is a close aide of a popular Bhojpuri actor with whom Rani refuses to work. They are exploring the possibility of the actor being involved in the case.
Rani Chatterjee (real name Sabiha Sheikh), of Sasura Bada Paisawala and Munnibai Nautankiwali fame, received an SMS from schoolteacher Ajay Pandey on December 11, which said that he would have to kill her if she did not give him more than Rs 15 lakh in three days.
He told her an actor in the Bhojpuri film industry had offered him that sum to kill her and he would let her go and kill the actor instead if she could top this bid. The actress, terrified at the prospect of being killed by black magic, filed a complaint with the Kashimira police the next day. The police tracked down and arrested Pandey from Barrackpore in West Bengal on December 17.