Mumbai Court Extends Custody of Woman in Rs 2.5 Crore Extortion Case

A Mumbai metropolitan magistrate court on Monday extended the police custody of a woman accused of extortion for two days and sent her Delhi-based advocate to judicial custody in connection with an alleged Rs 2.5 crore blackmail case linked to a rape complaint filed at the Airport police station.

The 37th Metropolitan Magistrate, D S Khedekar, remanded the woman, Nivedita Sharma, to further police custody for continued investigation. The magistrate sent advocate Sahityaraj Mishra to judicial custody after observing that the police had not provided sufficient grounds to justify his custodial interrogation.

According to the 32-year-old complainant, a real estate agent from Ahmedabad, Sharma had previously gotten his brother-in-law arrested in a rape case registered at the Airport police station. Sharma allegedly demanded Rs 4 crore to withdraw the complaint, but later agreed to settle the matter for Rs 2.5 crore in exchange for withdrawing the case.

On Saturday, the Anti-Extortion Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch laid a trap and caught Sharma red-handed while she was allegedly accepting Rs 45 lakh from the complainant’s brother-in-law. Both Sharma and Mishra were subsequently arrested.

Investigating officer Anil Wayal told the court that Sharma’s continued custody was required to recover an alleged token amount of Rs 5 lakh and to obtain her voice samples for forensic examination. Wayal also informed the court that investigators have learned of a similar extortion case registered against Sharma in Goa and have sought details regarding that case.