Minister blackmail: Court rejects bail

NOIDA: The Surajpur court has rejected the bail plea of two women allegedly involved in the blackmailing of the former Union minister Mahesh Sharma.


Sector 20 SHO Rajveer Chauhan told TOI that the bail pleas of Nisha and Nishu, which was clubbed with that of social activist Usha Thakur, were rejected by the court of additional district judge Vinod Rawat on the grounds that they had serious allegations against them.

Thakur’s bail plea was slated for March 31 but it was pushed to Monday as it was the last Friday before Eid.

“The court was hearing the bail pleas of all the accused together and found serious allegations against them. We are now heading towards filing a chargesheet in the matter,” he said.

Nishu was arrested from the office of Dr Sharma on April 22. Nisha and the main accused, Alok Kumar, who was the head of the now-defunct Pratinidhi channel, were arrested from Kolkata on May 2 where he was hiding.

An FIR was lodged against them under IPC sections for extortion, blackmailing and cheating. Last month, Thakur was arrested for allegedly “conniving with the accused” Alok Kumar and the other accomplices in trapping the minister in a sting.