Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 16: The daughter of an alleged bookie who claimed herself to be a dress designer has been arrested for blackmailing the wife of the Maharashtra deputy chief minister that Devendra Fadnavis claimed was “a trap” to ruin his political career.
The arrest was made on Thursday on the FIR filed by Amruta Fadnavis on February 20. The issue came to light after a section of the media published a report on her FIR on Wednesday and the matter was raised in the state Assembly by the leader of the opposition Ajit Pawar on Thursday.
The sensational allegation by Amruta Fadnavis, the wife of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis that a bookie’s daughter tried to threaten and blackmail her sparked a political furore in the state assembly. The opposition Congress and Pawar questioned how the wife of the state Home Minister could be targeted like this.
Amruta Fadnavis had filed a complaint with the Mumbai Police against the woman, who claimed to be a designer, and has alleged a conspiracy. A woman named “Aniksha” and her father have been named in a First Information Report (FIR).
Amruta Fadnavis, a banker, alleges that the woman befriended her, and tried to bribe her, offering her ₹ 1 crore to intervene in a criminal case involving her father. She allegedly also offered to give information on bookies “to help her earn money.” “If the Home Ministers’ family is not safe, how can the people in the state feel safe?” Congress’s Nana Patole questioned, demanding a thorough investigation.
Fadnavis told the House that in the FIR his wife had mentioned that some people used her to try to pressurise the deputy chief minister. “Anil Jaisinghani is a bookie, missing for four or five years. There are 14 cases against him. His daughter Aniksha, who is educated, used to meet Amruta in 2015-16. Later it stopped. She again started meeting Amruta in 2021. She renewed her touch with Amruta after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) came to power,” Fadnavis said. “She said I am a dress designer, wear my dresses, I do jewellery work,” he explained. She gained Amruta’s trust by telling many stories and even claimed to have published one book,” he said.
The deputy chief minister further alleged that Jaisinghani’s daughter offered Amruta a few designer clothes. “Later she told Amruta about her father and said there are fake cases against him and sought help. She also said that my father knows bookies and by raiding them we can earn money. My wife refused. She (Jaisinghani’s daughter) again approached and said she can offer Rs 1 crore for help in saving her father,” he added.
Fadnavis said his wife blocked her number after which she (Amruta) received videos and messages from an unknown number. “One serious video was there. In that, the girl is packing money in a bag and that bag is seen in my house,” Fadnavis said in the state Legislative Assembly.
He further added, “My wife was threatened that this video will hamper my career. And after Amruta told me about it, we called the police and filed an FIR but did not make it public. We did a forensic report of the video which showed that the bags were different.”
“With the help from the police, we continued to engage the said person and in one conversation names of police officers and leaders were revealed. We were told that the previous CP (police commissioner) had started the procedure to take cases back. It stopped when our government came in. We have recorded everything. The said absconding person has gone now,” Fadnavis said in the Assembly.
Mr Fadnavis told the House that the designer ingratiated herself with his wife to get her to save her father. “The FIR details the corruption and bribery attempt. According to the FIR, Ms Fadnavis said the woman sent her video clips, voice notes and messages from an unknown number on February 18 and 19.
“She requested me to wear products designed by her at public events, and that this would help promote her clothes, jewellery and footwear. I felt sympathetic… and said alright,” Ms Fadnavis said. In their first meeting, the woman had claimed to have lost her mother, the FIR says.
“In one meeting, Aniksha said her father had close relations with leaders of various political parties and later handed over a lakhota (paper envelope) to (one of the staffers) instructing her to give it to me. When I opened it, I found a handwritten note, but since I did not understand the content, I kept the paper aside,” the FIR says.
Ms Fadnavis alleged that the woman once lied to her bodyguard and sat in her car. She allegedly told her that her father had been giving information about bookies to the police and offered a plan to make money. “She (Aniksha) offered they can earn money by either instructing the police to take legal action against the bookies or they could also get money from them by not taking any action against them,” the FIR says.
Ms Fadnavis said she stopped the car and asked the woman to exit. She also said she ignored calls from her. The FIR says on February 16 at 9.30 pm, Aniksha contacted Ms Fadnavis and told her about her father being accused in a case and offered ₹ 1 crore if she saved him. “As soon as I heard that, I disconnected the phone call and blocked her number,” she said.