3 provide shelter to accused in extortion case, arrested

Investigation revealed that Manisha was using a messaging app which provided anonymous user registration facility and end-to-end encryption for secure conversation.

Three people were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly harbouring Manisha Chaudhary, who was nabbed on Monday in two extortion cases in Rajasthan and Gurugram.

3 provide shelter to accused in extortion case, arrested

The Gurugram crime branch had caught Manisha’s father Suresh Kumar from Sector 37, her aunt Vedwati from Sector 9, and her friend Meenakshi from Sector 10.

Manisha, 35, is the second wife of notorious gangster Kaushal Chaudhary, and was arrested from Devi Lal colony in Sector 9 on Monday. Sandeep Kumar, public relations officer of Gurugram, said that the three were arrested after Manisha’s confession that they provided shelter to her while she was on the run after her name surfaced in the ₹7 crore extortion cases in Neemrana and Bilaspur.

Further, investigation revealed that Manisha was using a messaging app which provided anonymous user registration facility and end-to-end encryption for secure conversation, police officers said. Through the app, she was in touch with all active gang members and henchmen while hiding in Jaipur before shifting to Devi Lal colony.

Police said they are trying to extract information about other suspects from the messaging app. Kaushal is currently lodged in Bhondsi jail while Manisha is on 6-day police remand for detailed interrogation.

Varun Kumar Dahiya, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said, “We expect to make several more crucial arrests soon in the case with the help of the information shared by Manisha during interrogation and from the messages.”

Manisha was arrested by the Manesar crime branch for the Bilaspur extortion case, in which a gang member, acting on her directions, had made a threat call to a hotel for paying ₹2 crore extortion on September 10. Rajasthan police will then take her on remand in the Neemrana extortion case, where two gang members had shot at least 20 rounds inside a hotel on September 8 on her directions.