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.
The case will come up for final hearing on July 5 after the summer break. Additional Solicitor General Satya Pal Jain refuted the allegations of illegal detention and said not even a single officer was detained.
According to sources, Singh, a resident of Faridkot, was the person who had launched the attack on Monday. A rocket-propelled grenade or RPG was fired from the street that shattered the window panes of Punjab Police's intelligence headquarters in Mohali.
Lt Gen Aujla, an alumnus of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, was commissioned in December 1987 and has had an illustrious military career spanning 35 years during which he has held varied prestigious command, staff and instructional appointments.
The area around the Intelligence Bureau office has been sealed and investigation is in progress. A bomb disposal and forensic squads have been positioned at the spot. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann spoke to Director General of Police V.K. Bhawra and sought details about the incident.
Notably, the police detained several people, including party workers, who were not allowing the SDMC to carry out the demolition drive at Shaheen Bagh. After the agitation was quelled, the bulldozer moved forward to demolish the illegal encroachment, an iron structure in front of a building. It is at this juncture that Khan reached the spot and was seen speaking to the officials.
