The Mumbai police on Tuesday arrested a budding song writer for allegedly sending threat messages to Bollywood actor Salman Khan and demanding Rs 5 crore from him in the name of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, an official said.
Sohail Pasha, held from Raichur in Karnataka, wanted a song written by him to become famous and used this ploy for the purpose, the police claimed.
The WhatsApp helpline of Mumbai traffic police on November 7 received multiple messages stating that the sender was a member of the Bishnoi gang, and Salman Khan would be killed if he did not pay Rs 5 crore.
They would also kill the writer of the song Main Sikandar Hun, the sender warned.
The crime branch of Mumbai Police tracked down the mobile number from which the messages had come to Raichur.
Accordingly, a team was sent to Karnataka and Vyankatesh Narayan, who owned the number, was interrogated, the official said.
But Narayan's mobile phone had no Internet facility, he said. -- PTI