Who is Anil Jaisinghani, who tried to blackmail Amrita Fadnavis and extort Rs 10 crore?

New Delhi: Mumbai Police recently named Anil Jaisinghani, his daughter Aniksha and his cousin Nirmal as prime suspects in a case related to blackmail and extortion. The trio has been booked for allegedly blackmailing and trying to extort Rs 10 crore from Amruta Fadnavis, wife of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Who is Anil Jaisinghani?

Anil Jaisinghani is a bookie wanted in at least 17 cases of forgery and extortion. He was arrested by the Mumbai Police in early March. The suspected bookie was on the run for almost 8 years before he was finally nabbed by the Mumbai Police. Anil Jaisinghani was arrested thrice in betting cases and is also wanted in five states.

BJP leaders and Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis held Anil Jaisinghani in the state assembly as the father of ‘designer’ woman Aniksha, against whom his wife filed a police complaint alleging threats and conspiracy. He is a bookie from Ulhasnagar district of Maharashtra.

What is the case against Anil Jaisinghani?

Amrita, wife of Devendra Fadnavis, lodged an FIR with the Malabar Hill police on February 20 alleging that Aniksha had tried to bribe Amrita to save her from several cases lodged against her father.

The charge sheet filed by the police in connection with the case also includes excerpts of chats between Aneksha and Amrita and the latter’s conversation with the bookie.

In one of those chats, Anil told Amrita that he had incurred a loss of Rs 1,000 crore in the last few years as he was absconding for eight years and 17 cases were registered against him during this period.

How was Anil Jaisinghani arrested?

According to media reports, the Mumbai Police had asked Amrit to continue chatting with Anil Jaisinghani, so that his location could be traced. As suggested by the police, Amrita offers to help Anil with the cases against him and also talks about his strained relationship with Devendra Fadnavis. Their incessant teachable chats helped the police to finally nab him.

‘If you are wrongly implicated, we will help you’

In one of these chats, Amrita assured Anil that she would help him if he was wrongly implicated. “I can talk to Devendra ji (Fadnavis) and ask him to do justice, but I cannot bow down to Aneksha’s demands regarding making illegal money. I know I have done nothing wrong, and you and Aniksha have worked from day one with the intention of blackmailing me.”

During their previous chat, Anil Jaisinghani’s daughter Aniksha had wooed Amrita saying she could make “huge money” by giving information about bookies to the police and arresting them.

Aniksha also allegedly made some videos to trap Amrita. According to the charge sheet, Anil Jaisinghani’s daughter Aniksha threatened to leak those videos and audios and texted Amrita, “Didiji, my father knows that you and Honorable Devendra Sir will use the police against him and the police will say that the videos Fake, but it won’t help me as my father is in regular touch with Sharad Pawarji and Uddhav Thackerayji and will give all video and audio recordings to them and Modiji.”

According to India Today report, Aniksha shot a video of the bag full of currency notes worth Rs 1 crore and later sent the clip to Amruta Fadnavis from another mobile number as the latter had blocked her number.

During the phone call, Aniksha claimed that the video clip could be a big political issue and could be misused against Devendra Fadnavis to ruin his electoral career, forcing him to resign as Deputy Chief Minister. Pada, PTI.

The chargesheet also mentions that Aniksha also tried to extort money from Amrita in another message, saying, “Dear sister, if you talk to me it will help both of us, you Give rs 10 crore and help my father in police case I promise I will give you all original video and audio recording I will not keep anything with me and my father will also delete all recording and no one will know And everyone will be happy and congratulations to Aniksha.”

Amrita responded by saying that though these videos could be used against her, the truth would eventually come out. According to India Today, on February 24, Amrita spoke to Anil again about her strained relationship with her husband on the advice of the Mumbai Police.

During their conversation, Amrita tells Anil that she will meet Aneksha at a place other than Sagar Bungalow and assures him of all help. The Mumbai Police registered a case against Anil, his daughter Aniksha and cousin Nirmal on February 20, and arrested them a few days later.