Ludhiana, June 14
The Ludhiana Commissionerate today claimed to have busted a gang allegedly involved in making extortion calls to people in the state by posing as aides of gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar, who took responsibility for singer Sidhu Moosewala’s killing, with the arrest of two suspects.
Police Commissioner Dr Kaustubh Sharma said the gang members allegedly used to extort money from individuals by threatening them. After complaints were received from potential targets in Punjab receiving threat calls and arms videos on WhatsApp, a special team, led by ACP Cyber Crime Jaspreet Singh, was constituted under the supervision of ADCP Crime Jagatpreet Singh to nab the suspects.
The team traced the suspects to Chhattisgarh and Bihar and arrested the two — Shakti Singh from Chhattisgarh and Afzal Abdullah from Bihar — with the help of respective state police.
“Following Moosewala’s murder on May 29 in Mansa, the suspects started threatening individuals in Ludhiana and other districts of Punjab using virtual numbers on WhatsApp. They posed as members of the Bishnoi gang and threatened to kill potential targets if they failed to pay up. They used to send videos of arms to instil fear in the victims,” said Sharma.
The two had no connection with the gangsters, claimed the CP, adding the police suspected there could be more members in the gang.
ADCP Jagatpreet said the Cyber Cell of Ludhiana had identified 25 bank accounts that were being used to receive extortion money.
Of these, details of five accounts have been obtained in which total transaction of upwards of Rs 1.04 crore were traced and most of the extortion money was received from Punjab. The Rs 11.76 lakh lying in these accounts have been frozen.
Details of 20 other accounts linked to the racket were yet to be received in which transactions of several crores involving extortion money were suspected. The two were also suspected to be behind the extortion calls made to three Mansa traders.
No gangster link
After Moosewala’s murder, suspects started threatening individuals in Ludhiana and other districts on WhatsApp posing as Bishnoi gang members. They had no link to the gangsters. — Dr Kaustubh Sharma, Police Commissioner, Ludhiana
Ludhiana: 2 posing as Lawrence Bishnoi’s men held for extortion
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