Mumbai, Dec 5 (Mid-Day): The Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested a waiter of an Udipi restaurant in Mumbai's western suburb of Andheri for allegedly sending threatening messages to Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit Nene. The police said the 23-year-old used to send the message to the actress' manager threatening to kill the popular actress' children in a bid to extort money by claiming to be a Chotta Rajan gang member.

The cyber crime branch on a complaint from the actress' manager has arrested Praveen Kumar Kamaleshwar Pradhan, 23, a resident of Andheri who works with a Udipi hotel in Andheri as a waiter and hails from Chhattisgarh. According to the police, the accused had got a magazine that had numbers of managers of all Bollywood film stars.

The accused was planning to inform Madhuri’s manager of the amount that they need to give him. According to police, Madhuri's personal assistant on November 28 approached the cyber cell alleging she had received four threatening text messages on her mobile phone from an unidentified person at about 3 AM on November 25.

The police said the accused had already messaged numerous actors with threats and was planning to demand money after a while. Police are verifying if he was actually associated with any organised criminal gang or was simply bragging.