Vadodara, Aug 11 (IANS) Punjab Police has arrested a man for allegedly making extortion calls to doctors and industrialists in the name of Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar gang, from this district of Gujarat.
The man arrested on Wednesday night, hailed from Bihar and was camping in the Chani area of the Vadodara city for the last 15 days.
According to the Deputy Commissioner of Police from Punjab: "Extornist Sharif, alias Mazaralam Shaikh, had called up an Amritsar-based doctor demanding Rs 5 lakh as ransom. After introducing himself as Vicky Brar and a member of Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar, he had threatened to kill the doctor if the ransom money was not transferred into his account."
The calls were being made from a foreign sim number using a banned app, but with technical surveillance, the police tracked him down to Vadodara. Simultaneously, another team had carried out a search operation in Bihar, from where the police picked up two more accused associated with Sharif.
Police too were surprised to find that the gang was operating 150 bank accounts in Bihar.
According to the Punjab Police records, two doctors had registered an extortion call complaint with the Sardar police station in Amritsar. In the first case, one Dr Rajnish Kumar had received an extortion call demanding Rs 6 lakh on July 29, and the caller had shared his SBI bank account number to transfer money.
The other complaint was filed by Dr Manan Anand alleging that the extortionist had demanded Rs five lakh from a Canada number.
British Columbia is unveiling a digital registration system for evacuees as the province prepares for the upcoming wildfire season while coping with physical distancing restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. A statement from the Ministry of Public Safety says the new platform will allow communities to provide emergency support services, including evacuee self-registration and referrals.
Indians stranded abroad because of the coronavirus pandemic will be brought back home as of May 7th but it will be a gradual process. Aircraft and naval ships will be arranged for their travel, the government said in a statement, adding the service will be offered on "payment-basis". Only those asymptomatic will be allowed onboard.
Two terrorists and an associate have been killed in an encounter that began on Saturday morning in Awantipora, a city in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district. As of this writing, a search operation was still ongoing.
In India more than 23,000 people have, or have had, the new coronavirus, central health ministry data showed on Friday. More than 700 of those infected have died -- a dreadful total, but a relatively low number compared to fatalities in other countries facing outbreaks. India is currently under an extended lockdown til May 3rd that was imposed last month to contain the spread of the virus, which is mainly transmitted through respiratory droplets.
Two people have been arrested for attacking prominent journalist Arnab Goswami and his wife. A FIR has been registered at the NM Joshi Marg Police station. Goswami in his complaint to the police has alleged that he and his wife were attacked by Youth Congress workers when they were driving back home from the Republic TV Headquarters in Worli.
A "major digital transformation" is coming to a one of fastest developing countries in the world. Facebook is committed to "opening commerce opportunities for people across India", founder Mark Zuckerberg said this morning, a day after the social media powerhouse invested $5.7 billion in Reliance Industries Ltd-owned mobile telecom company Reliance Jio.
