Following the incident of a state BJP leader getting extortion calls, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal on Thursday said that the issue has been brought to my notice and an inquiry is going on in this matter.
Karnal-based party leader Chander Prakash Kathuri had received extortion calls, with the caller using internet telephony to make it appear that he was dialling from the Chief Minister’s office.
While asking everyone to remain alert to not become victim of such calls, the Chief Minister said that I have been informed that the internet telephony call had originated outside India and had come via a foreign country,
No calls were made from any landline number of the CMO, he said. Haryana State Federation of Co-operative Sugar Mills Ltd (Sugarfed) chief Chander Prakash Kathuria had got the spurious calls on October 16 evening.
Identifying himself alternatively as a cousin of Chief Minister Manohar Lal’s and then CMO officials, the caller had demanded 60,000 Dhirams (about Rs 12 lakh) to be deposited in a Dubai bank account.
The same caller made two more WhatsApp calls to him from another number in changed voice and repeated his demand, Kathuria alleged, adding he was also sent a Dubai account number over his WhatsApp number.
In one call, the caller identified himself as the Chief Minister's cousin and in another, he claimed to be CM’s media advisor and in yet another call he claimed himself to be a former OSD of the CM, Kathuria said.
Following this, he had lodged a complaint with the Karnal SP and also informed the CM about the incident.
On Kathuria's complaint, the police lodged a case at Karnal Civil Lines police station on October 17, against unidentified persons on charges of extortion, criminal intimidation and under various sections of the Information Technology Act.