‘Heard of Moosewala murder?’ | Pune Man gets extortion call from jailed ‘Santosh Jadhav’; cops say name used to threaten

The complainant thereupon approached the police with a complaint. Senior Inspector Hemant Patil, in-charge of Kothrud police station, said, "This prima facie seems to be a case of phone call fraud where an imprisoned dreaded criminal's name has been used to extort and threaten the target. We are investigating,".

Pune police who have launched a probe into the extortion call have said it was prima facie a case of phone fraud using the name of the criminal to threaten the target. (Representational Photo)

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“Have you heard of the Sidhu Moosewala murder?” a caller asked a Kothrud-based businessman who received a threat call in the name of imprisoned henchman Santosh Jadhav known to have links to notorious gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. Pune police who have launched a probe into the extortion call have said it was prima facie a case of phone fraud using the name of the criminal to threaten the target.

An FIR in the case was registered on Saturday at Kothrud police station in this regard by a 34-year-old businessman from Kothrud who runs an earthmover rental business. As per his FIR, around 6.45 pm on Friday he received a call on his cell phone from an unidentified number.

The caller, he stated, went on to ask him in Marathi—”Have you heard of the Sidhu Moosewala murder? This is Santosh Jadhav speaking. I have been given a supari (contract to kill) of Rs 15 lakh to kill you. If you want to live, you will have to pay me. I can also harm your wife and children. So, if you want to live to celebrate Diwali, pay me Rs 50,000 immediately.”

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The complainant thereupon approached the police with a complaint. Senior Inspector Hemant Patil, in-charge of Kothrud police station, said, “This prima facie seems to be a case of phone call fraud where an imprisoned dreaded criminal’s name has been used to extort and threaten the target. We are investigating,”.

Officials said that Jadhav (25) is currently lodged at Yerawada Central Prison under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) invoked against him by Pune Rural Police in July last year. In June last year, the names of Jadhav and another Pune resident Siddhesh Kamble (19) alias Saurav alias Mahakal had cropped up in the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala.

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