Bengaluru: A 52-year-old man, claiming to be the CEO of a Kannada TV news channel, and his aide have been arrested by Jeevan Bima Nagar police for demanding Rs 8 lakh from a spa manager. Rajanukunte Venkatesh and Sandesh are in judicial custody. Police are looking for a few more accused, including Divya Vasanth, who worked as anchor in some news channels.
Sandesh is the brother of the anchor. Shivashankar H, 25, manager of Tree Spa and Beauty on 15th Main, 100 Feet Road in Indiranagar, filed a complaint on July 1. A woman, claiming to be the anchor of the regional channel, and two others visited the spa on June 27 and said they had videos of a masseuse stripping in front of a customer.
They sought Rs 15 lakh to delete them. Shivashankar was made to speak to the ‘CEO of the channel’. Shivashankar told police they had hired on June 21 a masseuse from the northeast.
Sandesh visited the spa on June 26, and as per his request, was provided with a room for jacuzzi massage and the masseuse from NE. Sandesh paid Rs 7,500. The masseuse left the spa after this and went incommunicado, he claimed.
When the anchor and two others approached him on June 27, Shivashankar borrowed time. The next day, Venkatesh called Shivashankar to enquire if the amount was ready. Shivashankar offered to pay Rs 50,000 to 1 lakh, but Venkatesh demanded Rs 15 lakh.
On June 30, Venkatesh reduced the amount to Rs 8 lakh and sent a screenshot of the video. “Shivashankar approached us with the screenshot and.
