Threats to 22 MLAs may be from hackers: UP police
Uttar Pradesh police said today the threatening messages sent to 22 MLAs recently may be the handiwork of professional hackers, who are using a proxy server to send messages. "It's a motivated propaganda to create panic," Additional DG Anand Kumar said. Hackers, who claimed to be associated with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, asked MLAs to pay Rs. 10L or their families will be eliminated.
SIT formed to probe the matter
Police yesterday formed a special task force after directions from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who took strong note of the threats. "The SIT will certainly crack the case," the officer said. In all the messages, the sender has given out his name as Ali Budesh Bhai from Dubai, a reference to a gangster once linked to the now Pakistan-based Dawood Ibrahim.
MLAs who received threatening messages
The MLAs who got the messages include Veer Vikram Singh (Meeranpur Katra in Shahjahanpur), Manvendra Singh (Dadraul in Shahjahanpur), Prem Prakash Pandey (Tarabganj in Gonda), Vinay Kumar Dwivedi (Mehnam in Gonda), Vinod Katiyar (Bhognipur in Kanpur), Shahshank Trivedi (Mahauli in Sitapur), Anita Rajput (Debai in Bulandshahr), and Dhirendra Bahadur Singh (Sareni-Raebareli). The opposition yesterday attacked the Adityanath government over the messages.
No one is secure under BJP government, claims Akhilesh Yadav
"No one is secure in the present regime. The MLAs are being threatened of dire consequences. There is no law and order in the state," Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had said.