The Delhi Police have arrested a man for allegedly trying to blackmail sitar player Anoushka Shankar, daughter of the legendary Pandit Ravi Shankar.

Junaid Jameel Ahmed Khan, a resident of Thane (West), was arrested in Mumbai and brought to Delhi earlier this week. He has been sent to 14 days’ judicial custody.

The Sunday Express had revealed on September 20 the attempt to blackmail Anoushka by some person who had access to her private photographs. This person had threatened to make the pictures public, including posting them on the Web.

According to sources, the initial demand that the blackmailer made to Anoushka in a series of emails was for $100,000. No money was, however, paid, investigators said.

The alleged blackmailer sent the emails to Anoushka’s mail address from a fake email ID, anoushka.soni @gmail.com . Anoushka is believed to have received the first of these emails on June 23, 2009.

Private investigators hired by the US-based Pandit Ravi Shankar found that only one of the emails had been sent from India; the rest came from Dubai, elsewhere in the UAE, and the USA.

The pre-paid mobile connection (9967858679), which was used to send the emails, was in the name of Junaid.

“This connection had international roaming facility. The accused was using it to send emails to her,” a Delhi Police officer told The Indian Express.

The officer said it was possibile the accused got hold of Anoushka’s pictures after she gave her laptop for repair to the Apple Service Centre in New Delhi’s Ansal Plaza, on February 8, 2008.

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