Anoushka case: Blackmailer wanted money to clear debts

Junaid Jameel Ahmed Khan,who blackmailed Pandit Ravi Shankar’s daughter Anoushka through emails,asked for money from her because he had to clear his debts. The motive behind his blackmailing Anoushka came to the fore with The Indian Express accessing the chargesheet filed against him for extortion and under the Information Technology Act by Special Cell on Wednesday. He had sent six threatening mails to Anoushka from Dubai and India in which he had mentioned that if she does not give him money,he can earn good money by selling her private pictures accessed by him.

Mumbai-based Khan,who was a sub-dealer in a share trading firm,had reportedly taken money from a number of people there. According to the Delhi Police,after hacking into Anoushka’s email account from a cyber café in Dubai,Khan had sent a mail to her,saying,“I have your 130 pictures. I will publish all these pictures and you cannot even say that these pictures are not yours. I need only financial help from you because I am running into debt and I have to pay a lot of people. So give me $1,22,000 so that I can pay my debts or else I will publish your pictures.” He sent six emails between May 11 and September 14 from Dubai and Mumbai.

“He had once used the Internet on his mobile phone through which we managed to identify him. He had used a prepaid number (9967858679) which we traced later,” the Delhi Police stated.

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In the 11-page chargesheet,the Delhi Police have recorded statements of 12 witnesses,including employees of the Google (from where details of the email and the IP address were taken),Airtel and Tata. The police are waiting for Google’s California office to send them details on Khan’s deleted mails and forensic reports of his mobile phone and laptop. The police will file a supplementary chargesheet as soon as they get Google’s reply and forensic report.

Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar had complained to the Ministry of Home Affairs in September that his daughter was being harassed and blackmailed. Anoushka herself had reportedly sent a complaint to the Delhi Police on September 1 from the US. The Delhi Police arrested Junaid on September 14 after lodging an FIR under Section 386. Later,the IT Act was included in the chargesheet. Khan is presently in judicial custody.