Trader gets extortion call from prison

Lucknow: A Sultanpur-based trader on Wednesday alleged that a man lodged in district jail in connection with a double murder case called him up to demand Rs 5 lakh as extortion money.Police, however, said that prima facie it appeared that the trader himself had a criminal record and was making false claims to implicate the accused. They added that further investigations were on in the case.Police said that Zia-ul-Haq lodged an FIR claiming that he received an extortion call from Jalaluddin, currently lodged in Sultanpur district jail in connection with a double murder case.SHO, Kotwali, Ram Ashish Upadhyay said Zia claimed that Jalaluddin called him and asked him to pay Rs 5 lakh as protection money. Zia said that from November 2022 to March 2023, he was also in lodged in jail where he met Jalaluddin. He said that while he got bail, Jalaluddin was still in jail and was threatening him.“Zia alleged two other men, one of them was identified as Riyaz, were also involved,” Upadhyay said.