A failed businessman with Bollywood dreams was arrested from Lucknow today for allegedly making an extortion call to noted filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt.
The accused, identified as Sandip Sahoo (26), had made the call from Uttar Pradesh in the name of Babloo Shrivastav, a former associate of underworld don Dawoood Ibrahim and demanded Rs 50 lakh from Bhatt.
According to the police, Sahoo had recently sent WhatsApp messages to Bhatt demanding money.
He had also allegedly threatened to harm Bhatt's actress daughter Alia and wife Soni Razdan if his demand was not met.
A case was then registered by Juhu Police and was picked up by the anti-extortion cell (AEC) of Mumbai Crime Branch which launched a probe, DCP (Crime) Vinay Rathod said.
After getting leads in the case, UP Police's STF picked up Sahoo from Lucknow this morning, a senior official said.
An AEC team reached Lucknow in afternoon, where they took custody of Sahoo from the STF, the official said.
Mumbai Police secured Sahoo's transit remand till March 5 after producing him before a court in Lucknow.
In his messages to Bhatt, Sahoo had forwarded a bank account number for depositing Rs 50 lakh, the officer said, adding that he had obtained Bhatt's mobile number from social networking sites.
The accused, who had studied till class VIII, was in dire need of money after he incurred losses running into over Rs 5 lakh in the shoe business, a crime branch officer said. Sahoo had started the shop with financial help from his relatives and friends.
The officer said Sahoo had come to Mumbai a few months back to get a break in Bollywood, but returned empty handed. "He planned to threaten Bhatt to make some easy money," he added.
"A bolt from the blue in the form of an extortion call & threat to my family was nipped in the bud by the MH & UP police in tandem.Gratitude! (sic)," Bhatt tweeted today.
The veteran filmmaker has made several award-winning and critically acclaimed films such as 'Saaransh', 'Arth', 'Naam', 'Kaash', 'Daddy', 'Aashiqui', 'Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin' and 'Zakhm' among others.
His daughters Pooja and Alia have acted in a number of popular Bollywood films.
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