Police on Monday arrested a member of a rightwing organization for allegedly attempting to blackmail Yomiuri Giants Corp. by threatening to disclose embarrassing information about third baseman Akira Eto.
Eiichi Hirano, 31, of Miyazaki Prefecture, was arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department and the Miyazaki Prefectural Police on suspicion of attempted blackmail.
Hirano heads the Miyazaki chapter of Nihon Domei, a rightwing organization. He has reportedly denied the allegations.
According to investigators, Hirano told Giants officials between Oct. 14 and Oct. 16 that Eto, the Japan Series champion's star third-baseman, sexually harassed a woman at a pension-style hotel in the suburbs of Miyazaki on the night of Oct. 11. Hirano allegedly told the company by telephone and in person at a Miyazaki hotel that if the Giants did not pay him 10 million yen, she would sue Eto, police said.
A magazine later carried an article about the alleged incident.
The Giants questioned Eto and concluded that he did not confine or otherwise assault the woman in question. But the corporation punished him with a fine for breaking the Giants code of conduct.