Three persons, including the relative of a senior politician, were arrested on 27th May for threatening and demanding extortion money from a TV serial producer. The three accused – Shashank Suman Verma (who is a relative of a senior politician from the western suburbs of Bombay), Bhupeshkumar Prasad alias Bhupi, and Rohan Redekar – were handed over to the Bangur Nagar police at Goregaon in Bombay on 28th.
Verma works as a cameraman while Bhupeshkumar is a co-producer of TV serials, and Rohan is their associate. Pradeep Kumar of Shaika Films lodged a police complaint, saying that he was due to launch a new Hindi TV serial, Jaat Na Poochho Prem Ki,on 18th June, for which Bhupeshkumar started threatening him after he rejected his offer to join as co-producer. Following this, Shashank Suman, who holds a post in a film association, called up Pradeep Kumar and threatened him to take Bhupeshkumar as co-producer, failing which he (Pradeep Kumar) would be in trouble. He also abused and threatened Pradeep Kumar and allegedly demanded Rs. 25 lakh to ensure that the launch of his TV serial was smooth. The police said, Shashank also sent Pradeep WhatsApp messages and put up gangster Chhota Rajan’s picture on his WhatsApp profile.i