Sanjay Sahay | TNNRanchi: In view of frequent extortion calls received by traders of Ranchi city in the recent past, police have issued advisories saying that people should treat the calls as suspicious and report the matter to police.Several traders of the city, including a prominent jeweller and restaurant owner, received extortion calls from gangsters in the recent past. A delegation of Federation of Jharkhand Chambers of Commerce and Industries met director general of police Tadasha Mishra and sought action on the issue.Police also stated that in the recent past, traders living under various police stations, including Ratu and Nagri, have received WhatsApp calls and messages through which callers claiming to be members of criminal gangs and extremist organisations have demanded levy and extortion money.In the advisory, police have emphasised that unknown WhatsApp calls coming with country codes 1, 44, 82, 264 and others, particularly when they are related to demand for extortion money, should be treated as suspicious.Police have also communicated that no unknown WhatsApp call with a foreign country code should be received, adding that these numbers should be immediately blocked.They added that suspicious calls, messages and WhatsApp numbers should be instantly reported to 1930, adding that the complaint could be registered with Sanchar Saathi also. The matter should also be reported to the nearest police station as well so that necessary legal action could be taken.Police stressed that calls, chats, audio recordings and screenshots should not be deleted as they could be helpful in the investigation. Police have said that payment of the amount should not be made under any circumstances.When asked about steps taken against gangsters, Additional Director General Manoj Kaushik said, “Police are working on the issue, but nothing could be disclosed now.”
