Gurugram, Oct 26 (PTI) A man was arrested from Gujarat's Vadnagar for allegedly trying to extort Rs 1 crore from YouTuber Elvish Yadav, police said on Thursday. Yadav is also the winner of Bigg Boss OTT, season 2.

Influenced by Yadav's lifestyle, the accused sent threats on WhatsApp to earn quick money, police said.

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The accused has been identified as 24-year-old Shakir Makrani, a native of Gujarat's Vadnagar, they said.

Makrani worked as an Regional Transport Office (RTO) agent along with his father in Vadnagar.

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“The accused wanted to become a millionaire soon. For this, he had demanded an extortion of initially Rs 40 lakh and then Rs 1 crore from Elvish Yadav and his manager through texts on WhatsApp," said Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Varun Dahiya.

“He is being brought to Gurugram on a transit remand to find out whether he made this call on anyone's instructions, and if anyone else is involved in the extortion demand along with him,” he added.

Yadav, a resident of Gurugram, lodged a complaint at Sector 53 police station on Wednesday after returning from a foreign trip.

An FIR was registered under relevant sections of the IPC on Wednesday following the complaint, an officer said. During investigation, it was found that the number used for sending WhatsApp messages to Yadav was being operated from Gujarat.

“Full cooperation was received from Gujarat Police. A team of Sector 40 crime unit arrested accused Sakir Makrani from Vadnagar, Gujarat, on Wednesday night. We will question Makrani after taking him on police remand,” said Dahiya.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)