RAICHUR: Mumbai Police arrested Sohail Pasha (23) of Manvi town, Raichur district, late Monday night, and took him to Mumbai for allegedly making a WhatsApp call to police, threatening to kill Bollywood star Salman Khan and the songwriter of his movie, in the name of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
Sohail Pasha, a resident of Ward 5 near Shadi Mahal in Manvi town, called the WhatsApp helpline number of Mumbai Police on November 7, and allegedly threatened to kill Salman Khan and the songwriter of ‘Main Sikandar Hun’, if he did not get Rs 5 crore, sources said.
Following the threat call, a Mumbai City Crime Branch team tracked the phone number and reached Manvi. The number belonged to Venkatesh Narayan of Chikalaparvi village in Manvi taluk.
During Narayan’s interrogation, it was confirmed that his phone was not linked to data use. However, it was also found that a one-time password (OTP) was sent to Narayan’s phone to install WhatsApp. “On November 3, a stranger came to me near the park in Manvi town, and asked if he could use my phone. I gave it to him,” Narayan told police.
Investigation revealed Sohail Pasha had approached Narayan, and used his number to set up WhatsApp on his own phone.
Mumbai Police took Sohail to Manvi police station for interrogation, and he confessed that he had committed the act to make Salman Khan’s movie and himself more famous, sources said. Pasha was produced in a Mumbai court, and remanded in police custody for two days.
On Wednesday, Manvi police inspector Veerabhadraiah Hiremath said, “A Mumbai Police team arrived in Manvi following a threat call to Bollywood actor Salman Khan. Those related to the case were interrogated at the local police station, and Sohail was taken to Mumbai.”
Sohail’s father Rasul Pasha said, “We don’t know anything. We don’t know what he did.” Rasul Pasha, who works with an electrical wiring firm, lives with his family in a tin shed near Shadi Mahal. Sohail is his elder son. Rasul is shocked and hurt by his son’s arrest, family sources said.