MUMBAI: Vaibhav Chandra Mishra, a 30-year-old unemployed engineer who allegedly sent extortion threats to several Bollywood actors including Ayushmann Khurrana and Tusshar Kapoor while posing as an associate of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, was on Friday remanded in police custody till November 10.
He had also sent an extortion message to Ayushmann Khurrana via Instagram, who reported the matter to the police. Mishra had allegedly sent an audio clip in the name of alleged Bishnoi gang operative Harry Boxer to Tushar Kapoor last week, seeking a ransom of ₹ 5 crore. He has been booked under section 308 (attempt to commit extortion) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, based on Khurrana’s complaint. A police officer familiar with the case said that they wanted to ascertain if the audio clip sent to Kapoor had the voice of alleged Bishnoi gang operative Anil Pandit, an absconding accused in the October 18 firing incident at actor Tiger Shroff’s car.
The Mumbai police crime branch told the court that they had recovered Mishra’s electronic devices including his mobile phone and were examining if he was linked to any gang, how many actors he had sent extortion threats to, and how he had found the mobile numbers of the actors. Though they did not suspect any link between him and the Bishnoi gang, the same needed to be verified by checking all details on his mobile phone, police said. “We have also asked for the bank details of the accused to check if any celebrity had paid him extortion money,” the police officer said.
The police subsequently traced the sender’s IP address to Bengaluru and apprehended Mishra on Wednesday with the help of the local police. On Friday, the police told the court Mishra was jobless and seemed to have sent the extortion messages out of frustration.
