Bollywood actor Ayushmann Khurrana has received an extortion message, with the caller claiming to be from gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s group and demanding “crores of rupees”.
Mumbai Police are verifying the sender’s claimed identity by comparing the audio with recordings of a person with the same name in their records, the news agency IANS reported, citing sources from within the police department.
The Mumbai Police’s cyber cell is also tracing the number and location from where the message was sent, the MidDay reported.
The police also said that the verification is necessary as pranksters have used such names to instil fear among celebrities. A first information report, the basis for starting police investigation in India, can then be filed.
Neither Khurrana nor Mumbai Police have issued an official statement yet.
The date of call and other details aren’t immediately available, but the development comes soon after actor-producer Tusshar Kapoor received a voice message from a person who identified himself as ‘Harry Boxer’, according to the news outlet NDTV. According to the message, Kapoor was reportedly ordered to pay up Rs 50 million (Dh1.8 million approximately).
A technical team from the crime branch of Mumbai Police examined the message received and compared it with voice samples of Harry Boxer in their database. The samples, according to NDTV, didn’t yield a match.
The police are also investigating if the two events are interlinked or if someone’s misusing Bishnoi’s name to spread fear. Bishnoi, considered a dreaded gangster, is currently lodged at a maximum security prison in Ahmedabad, in the west Indian state of Gujarat.
Last month, multiple shots were fired at Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff’s car as he was leaving a football club in Mumbai’s leafy suburb of Juhu. While the actor escaped unharmed, his driver and a bystander sustained injuries.
Source: Khaleej Times