Chandigarh, October 24: In a shocking incident, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader from Karnal received a number of calls from an unknown caller posing to be Haryana Chief Minister's close aide. The calls were reportedly made from a Chandigarh landline number. Reports inform that the caller demanded nearly 12 lakhs and asked the BJP leader to deposit the amount in a Dubai account. According to a report by Indian Express, BJP leader Chander Prakash Kathuria had received calls on his mobile number and also got WhatsApp calls, where the caller claimed to be Haryana Chief Minister's close aide.

The Police investigation into the matter is currently underway. Reports inform that the investigation process is also being monitored by Khattar himself. The BJP leader claimed that when he got a call on his mobile number, the caller claimed to be a cousin of Khattar while, in the another, he said he was Khattar’s media advisor. Both the calls, however, conveyed the same demand of depositing 60,000 Dirhams (nearly Rs 12 lakh) in a Dubai account number or face consequences. Rewari Gangrape Case: Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar Warns Those Shielding Accused of Strict Punishment. 

The leader, who is the head of Haryana State Federation of Co-operative Sugar Mills Ltd (Sugarfed) immediately alerted a senior police officer and told them about the threat calls. Soon after the investigations began, it was found that the landline number belonged to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) on the fourth floor of the Haryana Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh.

The BJP leader, who contested unsuccessfully from Karnal in the 2009 assembly polls, claimed that in one call, the caller introduced himself as the Chief Minister’s cousin while in the other, he said he is the CM’s media advisor.

Kathuria informed that on October 16, he had received four calls on his mobile number from a landline which was followed by two WhatsApp calls. According to reports, the Police informed that the staff at the CMO have denied making those calls. However, the Police has traced the WhatsApp calls to a UK number. The investigation into the matter is underway and the state government has intensified the search to nab the culprit as early as possible.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 24, 2018 03:15 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).