At least 6 BJP MLAs in UP complain of getting extortion messages

At least six BJP MLAs in Uttar Pradesh have filed police complaints that they have been receiving extortion messages on their phones asking them to deposit Rs 10 lakh in the sender's account lest their families would be eliminated, police said today.

The six lawmakers have lodged separate FIRs claiming that they have received these threat messages over the past couple of days and the sender, who happens to be the same person in all the cases, has demanded the money be paid within three days, they said.

The MLAs who claimed to have received the messages are: Veer Vikram Singh (Meeranpur Katra, Shahjahanpur), Prem Narayan Pandey (Tarabganj, Gonda), Vinay Kumar Dwivedi (Mehnuan, Gonda), Vinod Katiyar (Bhognipur, Kanpur), Shahshank Trivedi (Maholi, Sitapur) and Anita Rajput (Debai in Bulandshahr).

"I got WhatsApp messages and calls demanding Rs 10 lakh. The sender said if I did not pay the money my family members will be eliminated," Katiyar told PTI