The arrest of Bollywood actress Leena Maria Paul by the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police on Sunday for allegedly helping her boyfriend Sukesh Chandrasekhar in extorting Rs 200 crore from a businessman’s wife, is learnt to possess Hyderabad connections also .

The police have invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime (MCOCA) Act against Leena Paul, originally a Malayalam actress, who acted within the film 2013-made Bollywood film Madras Café and another hit film Biriyani within the same year.

The arrest follows an FIR registered on August 7 after former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh’s wife Aditi Singh informed police that a person posing as a senior official of the law Union ministry offered to assist her secure bail for her husband, who was in jail at that point during a concealment case.

Investigation revealed that Leena Paul’s boyfriend Chandrasekhar, an accused in 21 cases, including the committee bribery case, had made the decision to Aditi Singh, from Rohini jail, where he was lodged and running an extortion racket from the jail.

Inquiries revealed that Leena Paul features a link with an identical extortion case in Hyderabad in reference to a Central Bureau of Investigation case against former Telugu Desam Party MP from Narsaraopet Rayapati Sambasiva Rao.

It may be recalled that the CBI had filed a case against Rayapati for alleged bank fraud, after conducting a series of raids on his residence and offices in January 2020.

Days after the CBI raids, two people that identified themselves as CBI officers approached him for a bribe so as to bail him out of the case.

The two people – Manivardhan Reddy from Hyderabad and Selvam Ramaraj from Madurai, were later arrested by the CBI.

During the investigation, it had been revealed that the duo had approached Rayapati at the behest of Leena Maria Paul and Sukesh Chandrasekar, who had a conspiracy to extort money from Rayapati.

It is not immediately known whether Rayapati had paid them any bribe or not, but the CBI had busted the racket. It also issued lookout notice for her but couldn’t catch her.

The latest statement from the Delhi police said that they had arrested two associates of Chandrasekhar who had operated for him from outside the Rohini prison, besides two prison officials who helped him.

During the course of investigation, the police had found that a manager of a bank in Connaught Place and his two associates were involved within the dubious transactions for circulation of funds and arrangement of money .