A woman in Faridkot has been booked for helping her foreign-based son run an extortion racket. She allegedly provided him information on potential targets in the area.​The Sadiq police have registered a case against three persons, including the woman and her son, after an investigation revealed how they systematically identified and threatened local businessmen. The third accused in this case is the son’s friend.​The modus operandiThe investigation uncovered that Paramjit Kaur would scout local markets and note down the names and phone numbers of shop owners from their boards.​She would then pass this information to her son, Harmanpreet Singh, alias Hami, who is currently based abroad. Harmanpreet would use international WhatsApp numbers to call the victims, demanding massive sums of money. The FIR lodged by the police revealed that Harmanpreet would pretend to have “knowledge” of the targets’ families, using details given by his mother, to instill fear among them.​​How the racket was uncoveredThe case came to light following a complaint by Jaswinder Singh, a cloth merchant from Sadiq. He alleged on January 19, he had received a WhatsApp call from an international number demanding ₹80 lakh. The caller threatened to harm his family, specifically mentioning that he knew exactly where Jaswinder’s son studied.​​Following the complaint, the police tracked the digital footprint of the international calls. Their investigation led them to two local contacts, Harjit Singh and Khushdeep Singh, who identified the caller as Harmanpreet Singh.​The police have registered a case against Harmanpreet Singh, his mother ​Paramjit Kaur and Sonu Singh, a resident of Bihlewala and an accomplice of the duo in the operations.​”The mother used shop boards to gather intelligence, which the son then used to terrorize local traders. We have registered a case and further investigation is on to nab the local accomplices,” said the police.