Ex-scribe held for trying to extort Union minister

NOIDA: A woman who worked for a now-defunct Hindi news channel has been arrested for allegedly trying to extort Rs 2 crore from Union minister Mahesh Sharma and threatening to leak a video where he can be seen saying “code words”.
The woman, Nishu, had come to meet the minister on Monday afternoon. She carried a letterhead of the channel she worked for, Pratinidhi, and allegedly made the demand for money on behalf of her former employer, Alok Kumar.While Nishu has been arrested, police are looking for Alok. The role of Usha Thakur, granddaughter of Basant Singh- elder brother of Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, is also being probed.
Police said the 20-minute video had been recorded in Sharma’s office on March 24 this year. Alok had apparently identified himself as the owner of an IT firm and sought an appointment with Sharma before the Lok Sabha elections. In the clip, Alok can reportedly be seen telling Sharma — the BJP candidate for Gautam Budh Nagar — that his company would provide logistical support to the minister for his campaign trails. Sharma tells Alok not to take names but use only “code words”.
Police, however, did not share the video with the media.
The minister said Alok had been introduced to him by Usha Thakur and according to cops, he wanted to conduct a sting operation on Sharma. Police said there is no mention of any amount of money in the video, but Alok had caught on the “code words” part of the conversation to extort the minister. Nishu is believed to have told the cops during interrogation that they had extorted other politicians in a similar manner.
“Around 1.30pm, minister Sharma called me up to say that a person has been trying to blackmail him and extort a big amount. He was asked to hand over Rs 45 lakh on Monday and the remaining amount by Wednesday. If the money was not paid, they threatened to leak a video in their possession,” SSP Vaibhav Krishna said.
“The video shows the minister in conversation. We have questioned the woman and she has admitted to have blackmailed other people like this. The news channel called Pratinidhi was closed down after demonetisation. There seems to be an organised nexus which targets influential people,” he added.
Police said Alok was in financial crunch after his news channel shut down and was looking for ways to make easy money.
Sharma held a news conference on Monday evening to explain what had happened on March 24, when Alok had come to meet him.
“He identified himself as the CEO of a company called Rachna IT solution. Usha Thakur, whom I respect as an elder sister and with whom I have been associated for the past 30 years, was also present. He said his company would help me in the poll campaign and provide about 60 managers and 150-300 employees to back me. I introduced him to my brother Ajay,” the minister said.
Sharma told the news conference he got a call on April 9 where Alok identified himself as the owner of Pratinidhi and told him that the March 24 meeting was actually a sting. “He told me ‘I am running a channel called Pratinidhi and it has suffered losses. If you add shares to my channel or buy it, I will run it’. He did not demand any money and cut the call. At that time, Usha Thakur and KK Gautam (former IPS officer) was with him,” Sharma said.
“Today, KK Gautam, Usha Thakur and the woman came to my brother Ajay’s office. The woman said the channel’s CEO had sent them with the letter,” he added. The minister also played a recording of the phone calls to buttress his claims. Usha Thakur, who has been detained, denied all the allegations. “I just introduced Alok to him. When I learnt that it was a sting, I immediately alerted the minister,” she said.