Actor Tusshar Kapoor has allegedly received an extortion call demanding ₹5 crore from a caller who claimed to be Harry Boxer of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, news agency IANS reported on Tuesday (November 3). Mumbai Police suspect the call was a hoax.
Kapoor reported the call to Mumbai Police, who passed the complaint to the Anti-Extortion Cell and the Crime Branch, Outlook reported.
Why police suspect a hoax
The Crime Branch's technical team compared the recording of the call with official voice samples of Harry Boxer held in the police database, and they did not match, senior officers told IANS. Investigators believe someone may have used the gang's name only to scare the actor.
"Police are now searching for the person who sent the audio recording," Mumbai Police sources told the agency.
What is not known
Police have not said who made the call, where it came from, or whether anyone has been detained. No statement from the actor has been reported. Both accounts rely on IANS, and police describe their finding as preliminary.
Background
The call comes about two weeks after a shooting in Mumbai that members of the Bishnoi gang claimed; police have named Bishnoi's aide Anil Pandit as a wanted accused. On October 18, two gunmen fired five shots at actor Tiger Shroff's car in Juhu; Shroff was mostly unhurt, while his driver and a bystander were injured, Outlook reported. Thirteen people have been arrested in that case, and police invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against the accused on October 27.