Minutes after firing outside his shop, Moga trader gets ₹10-lakh extortion call

After firing in the air, the accused called up garment shop owner and threatened to kill him if he failed to pay up ₹10 lakh by Thursday

Police are looking for leads after unidentified men made a ₹10-lakh extortion call to a garment trader and opened fire outside his shop in Madari market at Bagahapurana sub-division of Moga district on Wednesday.

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After firing in the air, the accused called up garment shop owner Ajay Kumar and threatened to kill him if he failed to pay up ₹10 lakh by Thursday, police said.

Ajay said he was in his shop when he heard sound of a gunshot. “Soon, I received a phone call from an unknown number. The caller demanded ₹10-lakh extortion or get killed,” he said.

Deputy superintendent of police Jaswinder Singh said they were scanning CCTV camera footage of surrounding areas to identify the accused.

A case under Section 384 (extortion) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Arms Act was registered against the unidentified accused at Baghapurana police station.