Tinsukia, April 1: A 27-year-old woman, who was arrested yesterday for allegedly blackmailing Digboi legislator Suren Phukan, had been demanding money from him for the past couple of months, police said today.

"The woman called yesterday and demanded Rs 10 lakh from Phukan. She was threatening to tarnish his image if he did not pay up. He told her to come to her house to collect the money but she refused. Phukan suggested another location for meeting which she also refused before finally agreeing to meet," Tinsukia superintendent of police Mugdhajyoti Mahanta said.

He said they laid a trap yesterday and caught Monmi Kakoty red-handed accepting Rs 30,000 kept in an envelope from Phukan at Green Park hotel on the outskirts of Digboi town, around 30km from Tinsukia.

Phukan said over telephone that he had come in contact with the woman's husband Pappu Borgohain, a resident of Margherita in Tinsukia district, before the Assembly elections. "I came in contact with the woman through her husband. Later, I met her along with her husband on a couple of occasions. She started sending me some texts which I found objectionable and decided to stop meeting her. Subsequently, she started blackmailing me."

He said a few months back the woman demanded Rs 50 lakh from him and threatened to "politically murder" him if he failed to pay. "She later lowered her demand to Rs 10 lakh and even called my wife and threatened her."

Phukan said the woman allegedly uploaded a picture of him on Facebook on February 14 with objectionable comments. "It is then we decided to lodge a complaint with the police."

He alleged that Monmi had opened several fake accounts on Facebook and allegedly sent objectionable messages and pictures on these accounts.

Officer-in-charge of Digboi police station Mahesh Bora said based on the FIR filed by Phukan, they registered a case under Sections 387, 294, 506 and 34 of the IPC and Section 66 of the IT Act.

During investigation, we found a bunch of text messages sent by the woman demanding money and other records, Bora said. "However, the woman in her statement to the police said it was a conspiracy against her."

According to sources, the woman was produced in a local court at Margherita which sentenced her to four days in police remand.