Ludhiana hotelier gets extortion calls from gangster

A city-based hotelier received multiple calls from a caller posing himself as gangster Ankit Pandit Sharma. The suspect asked the victim to pay Rs 10 lakh as protection money else threatened to kill the complainant and his family members.

The complainant, Raghav Tandon, a resident of Sector 32-A, Chandigarh road, told the police that in past few days he had received multiple calls from the gangster, who told him that if Rs 10 lakh was not given, he would get him killed. The suspect even threatened that he was also aware about his family members and he could easily send his men to commit murders.

ASI Randhir Singh said after receiving a complaint from the victim, a case was registered against the suspect. The gangster, who was said to be a native of Partap Nagar, Tibba road, was at present hiding in the USA. Even calls were made from USA numbers.

Earlier also, several such calls were made to city businessmen by other gangsters who are hiding in foreign countries.

Recently, a city businessman, Ekjot Singh Chawla, had also received extortion calls from gangster Ankit Pehalwan, who demanded extortion money and told him that he has close links with gangster Goldy Brar. Even a gangster, Goru Bacha, lodged in the Central Jail here had recently made an extortion call to financier Gagandeep Singh, demanding Rs 50 lakh extortion, else threatened to get him killed. Interestingly, the gangster had made the call from a landline number of the jail.