Delhi woman and lawyer held for Rs 4 crore extortion bid

Mumbai Crime Branch arrested a 31-year-old woman, Nivedita Apul Sharma, and her Delhi-based advocate, Sahityaraj Mishra (27), for allegedly trying to extort Rs 4 crore from a 32-year-old Ahmedabad real estate agent in exchange for withdrawing a rape complaint. The woman had earlier lodged the rape FIR and got the complainant's brother-in-law arrested. According to the police, she later agreed to settle the matter for Rs 2.5 crore.

The Anti-Extortion Cell caught Sharma red-handed accepting Rs 45 lakh near a Juhu hotel on August 15 after a trap. Police said the demands were made via phone calls, several recorded by the complainant’s brother-in-law. A Holiday Court remanded both to two days' police custody. On August 19, the 37th Metropolitan Magistrate, D S Khedekar, sent Mishra to judicial custody, saying police had not given enough grounds for his further interrogation. Sharma was given two more days of police custody.

Investigating officer Anil Wayal told the court that Sharma's custody is needed to recover an alleged Rs 5 lakh token amount, obtain her voice samples, and search for an alleged accomplice, Basit Khan. Police noted a similar extortion case against Sharma in Goa. Mishra's lawyers argued he was only mediating and was not present during the trap.