Punjab Police arrest extortion racket 'mastermind' from Gujarat

PK Jaiswar

Amritsar, August 7

The Punjab Police in a joint operation with the Gujarat Police have arrested Mazhar Khan, an alleged mastermind of the extortion call racket and other cyber frauds targeting doctors, traders and politicians in the recent past.

A Punjab Police team was sent to Gujarat after the police got a tip-off that he was hiding in Vadodara there. Mazhar Khan originally hails from Bihar.

His name figured during the interrogation of two Bihar residents arrested by the police for threatening doctors for extortion. The police also laid hands on nearly 150 bank accounts wherein they were seeking extortion amount to be deposited.

Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Investigations), said police teams reached Gujarat today. He said Mazhar Khan would be brought to Amritsar on transit remand tomorrow.

The police had nabbed two Bihar residents, identified as Prinsh Kumar (21) of Siswa Mauje village and Vikas Kumar (22) of Sewarahan village in Lukarian tehsil, East Champaran district (Bihar). The police had recovered their laptops, mobile phones and fake IDs on social media.

Investigations revealed that ransom calls were made by cyber criminals, who were trying to extort money from doctors by posing as gangsters. They used to create a Whatsapp ID and then used to call through internet calls. They used to identify themselves as members of notorious gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi, Goly Brar and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria. Bishnoi and Bhagwanpuria were arrested by Punjab Police for interrogation in the Sidhu Moosewala murder case.

They had allegedly demanded extortion worth lakhs from Dr Manan Anand and Dr Rajnish Sharma here. They had given bank account numbers to the doctors which led the police to the criminals. The police had registered separate cases in this connection.

Hails from Bihar

• A Punjab Police team was sent to Gujarat after the cops got a tip-off that the accused was hiding in Vadodara. Mazhar Khan originally hails from Bihar
• His name figured during the interrogation of two Bihar residents arrested by the police for threatening doctors for extortion
• Mazhar will be brought to Amritsar on transit remand on Monday