Six booked for ‘trying to extort Rs 20 crore’ from BJP MP Ravi Kishan

Among the six named in the FIR is Aparna Soni, alias Aparna Thakur of Mumbai, who purportedly asserted in a press conference two days ago that Kishan had married her and is the father of her daughter, a police official said.

The other accused are Aparna’s husband Rajesh Soni, their daughter Shenova Soni (27) and son Saunak Soni (25), Samajwadi Party’s state media in-charge Vivek Kumar Pandey and Kursheed Khan Raju, a journalist purportedly associated with an electronic channel, the official added.

The complainant, Preeti Shukla, Ravi Kishan’s wife, alleged that the accused threatened her husband with a false rape case.

“Preeti Shukla claimed that the woman and other accused are blackmailers. She alleged that she had filed a complaint against Aparna Soni with the Mumbai police two years back and she along with her associates was blackmailing their family,” said Hazratganj Station House Officer (SHO) Vikram Singh.

Preeti Shukla also accused Aparna Soni of threatening to harm their family, claiming that she and her associates have underworld connections. She claimed that Aparna demanded Rs 20 crore from them while threatening to frame her husband in a false rape case to tarnish his reputation if the money wasn’t paid. Shukla expressed fear for her family’s safety from Aparna and her associates.

Also, a video of a girl claiming to be Ravi Kishan’s daughter is circulating on social media.

The case against the six people was registered under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 195 (fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction of offence punishable with imprisonment for life or imprisonment), 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt), 388 (extortion by threat of accusation of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life, etc), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, the police said.

On the FIR filed against Vivek Kumar Pandey, Samajwadi Party chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said that he was unaware of the development.