Ludhiana: Restaurant owner receives extortion message from ‘gangster Landa’

The accused demanded an extortion of ₹2 crore and warned the owner of dire consequences if his demand was not fulfilled

A restaurant owner based in Ludhiana received an extortion message from an unknown number, with the caller claiming to be dreaded gangster Lakhbir Singh Landa.

The police are currently investigating whether the call was made by the gangster himself or if someone else acting in his name made the extortion attempt. (iStock)

The accused demanded an extortion of ₹2 crore and warned the owner of dire consequences if his demand was not fulfilled. The victim, Nirmal Singh, reported the incident to the Dehlon police, who have registered a case against unidentified individuals.

Nirmal Singh, 51, a resident of Dehlon village and the owner of a restaurant in the Dehlon area, first noticed three missed calls from an international number on his WhatsApp on October 31 at around 10:30 am. Shortly after that, he received a voice note from the same number, where the sender identified himself as ‘Landa Harike’, a notorious gangster. The voice note demanded ₹2 crore as extortion money and threatened Singh with his life if he failed to comply. Nirmal also shared the voice note with the police as evidence.

On November 2, he again received calls from the unknown number but did not to respond.

Inspector Paramdeep Singh, station house officer (SHO) at Dehlon police station, confirmed that a case has been registered against unidentified accused under sections 387 (putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt to commit extortion) and 506 (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

The police are currently investigating whether the call was made by the gangster himself or if someone else acting in his name made the extortion attempt.