Rohit Shetty
Mumbai: The city crime branch probing the alleged Rs 20 crore extortion threat received by filmmaker Rohit Shetty last week have traced the threatening voice message to a Pakistan-linked virtual private network (VPN).However, officers said the threat currently appears to be more in the nature of a prank than a credible extortion attempt. Last Feb, Lawrence Bishnoi gang had fired five rounds outside Shetty’s house in Juhu. Police have already arrested 15 persons and have invoked MCOCA against them. Police have also enhanced Shetty’s security.Police have sent the voice samples to forensic experts to match with the voice of Bishnoi gang member Shubam Lonkar.
“Its almost impossible to track these private VPNs. For instance, the sender may have recorded the message in India and used the private VPN of Pakistan to send the message back to India.”Police said the caller attempted to make the threat appear genuine by mentioning specific details about Shetty’s Lamborghini, the number of security guards posted for him and its description, as well as his residential address. Investigators, however, noted that such information is publicly available on social media, reducing its evidentiary value in establishing access to privileged information.
