Gujarat man held for allegedly demanding ₹1 cr in extortion from Elvish Yadav

Varun Kumar Dahiya, assistant commissioner of police (ACP) (crime), said that the suspect, identified as Shakir Makrani, was arrested with the help of Gujarat police. He said the suspect worked as a tout at the regional transport office there

A 25-year-old suspect was arrested from Vadnagar in Gujarat on Thursday morning for allegedly sending threat messages to social media influencer Elvish Yadav and his manager demanding to pay Rs.1 crore in extortion money, said Gurugram police.

Suspect Makrani was arrested in Gujarat on Thursday morning (HT Photo)

Yadav is also the winner of Big Boss OTT-2. Varun Kumar Dahiya, assistant commissioner of police (ACP) (crime), said that the suspect, identified as Shakir Makrani, was arrested with the help of Gujarat police. He said the suspect worked as a tout at the regional transport office there.

“Yadav was on a foreign trip with his manager. They returned to Gurugram on October 17 after which both received the messages on their WhatsApp in which the suspect had demanded extortion money,” Dahiya said.

Dahiya said that initially, Makrani had demanded Rs.40 lakh however, he sent more messages to Yadav and his manager demanding Rs.1 crore.

The police have recovered the SIM card used to send the extortion messages to both, said the ACP, adding that the mobile phones in which the SIM card was used were yet to be recovered.

Dahiya said that Makrani wanted to earn quick money to become a millionaire and with this plan, he sent extortion messages to Yadav and his manager.

“Makrani used to follow social media influencers and was much impressed with Yadav’s lifestyle and his fame,” said the ACP.

Police said that after receiving the extortion messages on October 17, Yadav filed a complaint at Sector-53 police station on Wednesday based on which a first information report (FIR) against unidentified suspects was registered under sections 384 (extortion) and 387 (putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt in order to commit extortion) of Indian Penal Code.

They said that it was yet not clear how Makrani managed to arrange the phone numbers of Yadav and his manager.

“Makrani is en route Gurugram along with a team of Gurugram police which had gone to Vadnagar to arrest Makrani on Wednesday night. We will take him on remand after production before a court here for detailed interrogation,” a senior police officer said, adding that more suspects may be arrested after further investigation.