Mumbai:
The Mumbai police have arrested a 35-year-old government school teacher posing as a tantrik from Barrackpore in West Bengal on December 17 for demanding more than Rs 15 lakh from a Bhojpuri actress in return for letting her live.
The 'tantrik' told the Mira Road resident that an actor from the Bhojpuri film industry had paid him Rs 15 lakh for killing her through chanting mantras and he would have to do so unless she could top his bid.
Rani Chatterjee, also known as Sabiha Sheikh, received an SMS from school teacher 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.
Terrified at the prospect of being killed by black magic, she filed a complaint with the police the next day.
"I hadn't even heard of the person until I got the threatening text message from him on December 11. He told me he was a tantrik and had been paid Rs 15 lakh for my murder," said Chatterjee.
"In the subsequent calls and messages, which went on till December 16, he told me that he would spare me and kill the actor instead if I paid him an amount higher than Rs 15 lakh. I was scared and decided to approach the police," she said.
On the basis of inputs provided by her, the police tracked down the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number of the cellphone she was receiving calls from.
"We began investigating and found that the calls were being made from the city of Barrackpore in the 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. A police team went there and arrested the accused on December 17," said Anand Bhoir, inspector, Kashimira police station.
When the team reached Barrackpore, the officers were surprised to learn that the owner of the number was not a tantrik, but government schoolteacher Ajay Pandey.
They recovered a long database of upcoming Bhojpuri actors and actresses from him.
"We are investigating the role of all the actors and actresses whose numbers are in the database," added Bhoir.
Chatterjee told the police that Pandey could have been paid by a Bhojpuri actor who used to like her but vowed revenge when she did not respond to his overtures.
"I was never in love with him. He kept following me but I stopped entertaining him completely when I realised that he is not a good man," said Chatterjee.