No bail for Anoushka's blackmailer

The man who allegedly blackmailed Anoushka Shankar, noted sitar player and daughter of maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, was on Wednesday denied bail.

The man who allegedly blackmailed Anoushka Shankar, noted sitar player and daughter of maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, was on Wednesday denied bail.

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Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja rejected the bail application of Junaid Khan and noted that the laptop and mobile phone allegedly used to send threatening e-mails to Anoushka Shankar were recovered from him.

"The allegations against the accused appear to be grave in nature. In view of this, I am not inclined to admit the accused on bail at this stage," said the judge.

In his plea, Khan, arrested from Mumbai by Delhi Police's Special Cell on September 14, said he belonged to a respectable family and had been implicated in the case. He said he was a sub-dealer in a share-trading firm.

Delhi Police, opposing the bail plea, alleged that Khan had demanded a large amount of money from Anoushka Shankar, threatening to give publicity to her private pictures retrieved after hacking her e-mails.

Anoushka Shankar's pictures were stolen from her laptop, which she had given to a South Delhi-based service centre on February 8 last year for servicing.

Khan has been booked under the Indian Penal Code provisions relating to extortion, theft and others and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act pertaining to hacking of computer.