Noida (UP): A man was arrested here by Noida and Mumbai police in a joint operation for allegedly threatening actor Salman Khan and demanding Rs 10 crore extortion money by posing as gangster Lawrence Bishnoi's brother, police said on Tuesday.
They said the accused, Taib Ansari, told the police that he made the threatening call on a phone number picked from the internet -- which was a 'helpline' number issued by Mumbai Police.
Ansari, who hails from Bareilly district in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested on Monday night from an under-construction house in Sector 92 where he was working as a carpenter, Jitendra Kumar Singh, inspector in-charge of Sector 39 police station, said.
He said Mumbai's Bandra Police contacted Noida Police late Monday night and informed that Lawrence Bishnoi's brother Anmol Bishnoi had threatened Salman Khan. They said the location of the phone was traced to Noida.
Also, Assistant Sub Inspector of Police Bandra Police Rauf Shaikh came to Noida with his team.
Singh said that a joint team of Noida and Mumbai Police raided an under-construction house in Sector 92 and Ansari was arrested from there on charges of threatening and demanding Rs 10 crore extortion money.
He said that the mobile phone used in the incident was recovered from the accused.
Singh said that during the interrogation, the police came to know that Ansari had obtained the number on which he made the threatening call through the internet.
The number on which the accused called and threatened is a 'helpline' number issued by the Mumbai Police, he said, adding the police was interrogating him.
Mumbai police will take Ansari to Maharashtra on 'transit remand' after producing him in Gautam Buddha Nagar district court, the officials said.