Amritsar, Jun 22 (PTI) Punjab's former deputy chief minister O P Soni received threat calls on his mobile phone allegedly from gangsters demanding ransom after which he lodged a police complaint.

The Congress leader received WhatsApp calls on his phone on Monday evening and he was asked to pay Rs 10 lakh and Rs 20 lakh in two different calls, as per the complaint lodged in this regard.

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The Amritsar Cantonment police has registered an FIR and efforts are to trace the callers.

Confirming the ransom calls allegedly from gangsters, a family member of Soni on Wednesday said callers threatened Soni with dire consequences if the matter was reported to police.

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The caller also threatened to extend harm to his family members.

The five-time MLA, Soni remained a cabinet minister in Congress governments led by Amarinder Singh and Charanjit Singh Channi.

Soni lost the Assembly polls from Amritsar Central earlier this year. Last month, former SAD MLA from Ajnala constituency Amarpal Singh Bony had also registered a complaint with the police alleging to have received threat calls from gangsters demanding ransom.

(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)