A Durban woman - herself a blackmail victim - helped to extort R, from a well-known businessman with whom she had a sexual relationship. The blackmailers threatened to send a "sex tape" to the man's wife if he did not pay up. The Pietermaritzburg Regional Court heard yesterday that Aruna Seebran and Deonarain "Rajen" Maharaj were in a sexual relationship in when she became part of a scheme to extort money from Maharaj, the owner of Pietermaritzburg's Maharaj Coaches.
Seebran's lawyer, Viren Singh, told the court that Seebran's friends, Duel Matthew, Leslie Naidoo and a man identified only as Sudhir, became aware of the affair and persuaded her to blackmail Maharaj. Maharaj paid the R,, which was immediately withdrawn by Matthew. Singh said that before blackmailing Maharaj the three men extorted R, and a car from Seebran in return for keeping the affair secret.
He said Seebran was a widowed mother of two, aged 12 and 10, and earned R10, a month by selling perfume. One of the reasons Seebran gave for entering into a plea agreement was to save her family and that of Maharaj from the embarrassment that would result from the making public in a trial the salacious details of their affair, the lawyer said.
For the sake of her children and herself, she has barred herself from entering the Suncoast Casino. But she was remanded in custody at Westville prison because two cases are pending against her relating to fraud and to the theft of jewellery valued at more than R, Naidoo and Matthew are on the run. Sudhir has died.
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