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Two arrested in Zirakpur for extortion call to Panchkula builder
Duo used gangster Sukha Kahlon’s photo as their WhatsApp display picture to intimidate the victim
Two men in their 20s, who used a photograph of slain gangster Sukha Kahlon as their WhatsApp profile picture and made extortion calls to a Panchkula builder demanding ₹60 lakh, were arrested on Saturday.
Accused Ayaz Ali, 25, is from Najibabad in Uttar Pradesh and currently lives in Delhi’s Pitampura. Sachin, 20, is from Hanumangarh in Rajasthan.
On February 4, builder and Sector 20 resident Devdutt Verma received several WhatsApp calls asking for the money while he was on his way to a construction site in Phase 2, Mohali.
Panchkula deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Kamal Deep Goyal said the two suspects had connected through Facebook in December 2018, when Ali was living in Manimajra, Chandigarh, and worked as a painter with his uncle.
“The accused were following a Facebook page related to Students Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) from where they got Verma’s phone number. They knew he was a builder and had money. Ayaz masterminded the plan to earn quick money and called Sachin to meet him and bring another person along,” Goyal said.
The duo, with another man identified as Vishal alias Billu, who has yet to be arrested, met in Zirakpur on February 3, and stayed overnight in a hotel, said police.
The next day, Ali asked Vishal to call Verma through WhatsApp and speak to him in Haryanvi to evade suspicion. A photograph of gangster Kahlon was used as their WhatsApp profile picture to mislead the victim, Goyal said.
Old WhatsApp numbers traced
The cyber cell and Sector 19 crime branch traced the WhatsApp number to Rajasthan — registered in Sachin’s name —, but found it was not being used to make cellular calls. Meanwhile, the teams stayed in touch with Whatsapp. Recently, when Sachin tried to change the phone number on the WhatsApp app installed on his mobile phone and an OTP was issued to verify the account, the service’s representatives sounded the police.
The cyber cell trace the phone to Zirakpur, and arrested Sachin and Ali on Saturday.
“The cyber cell team was working on the number used for the WhatsApp call. Tracking their number gave us leads through which Sachin and Ali were nabbed,” said Sector 19 crime branch in-charge, inspector Karambir Singh.
