Wannabe actor also called Shah Rukh Khan

Mumbai: Former Bollywood wannabe Sandeep Sahu, who was nabbed in Lucknow for allegedly making extortion calls to film director Mahesh Bhatt, had also attempted to make extortion demands on superstar Shah Rukh Khan but could not reach him.

Sahu managed to speak to Mr Khan’s staff members but could not reach the actor during the couple of calls he made, the police said. Sahu, however, issued no threats to Mr Khan’s staffers. Apart from calls, he had sent text messages to the number associated with Mr Khan. The attempt was made in the same period as that of Mr Bhatt, officials said, adding that they would take the statement of the concerned staffer if required.

Sahu was arrested on Wednesday night by the Uttar Pradesh police’s Special Task Force (STF) on a tip-off from the Mumbai police.

Sahu, who is being brought to Mumbai from Lucknow, revealed that he had used a mobile phone-based application to procure the contact numbers of celebrities including Mr Bhatt and Mr Khan. The police said no complaint was received from Mr Khan or his representatives.

“He attempted to contact Khan, however, he could not reach him is what we know. So there was no demand of extortion or issuance of threats. We will however interrogate him once we get his police custody,” said Sanjeev Saxena, joint commissioner of police (crime).

Police officials said they would seek the details of call records of the number Sahu used for targeting Mr Bhatt, Mr Khan and a few other persons. Sahu did not use his regular number and used another number to send messages and make the extortion calls. The police suspects that he attempted to extort from at least five persons in a similar fashion, which include an advertising producer and a television actor. Their identities are yet to be ascertained.

Meanwhile, sources said Sahu had also allegedly contacted Nita Ambani, Abhishek Bachchan and Ayesha Shroff.

A team of the Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC), headed by inspector Vinayak Vast, is on its way to Mumbai with Sahu, from Lucknow and they were expected to arrive late on Friday. Sahu will be produced in the Esplanade court on Saturday and officials will seek his custody for further investigation.