Varanasi, Oct 13 (IANS): An extortion call has been made from the phone number of Uttar Pradesh's jailed MLA Vijay Mishra.

The call has left the police baffled because Mishra is in Agra jail and his phone, with the SIM card, had been seized by the Madhya Pradesh Police at the time of his arrest on August 14 and later handed over to the Bhadohi police.

The extortion call was made to Gyanpur Nagar Panchayat chairman Hiralal Maurya who filed a complaint on Monday with the Bhadohi police.

Bhadohi Superintendent of Police R.B. Singh asked officials to probe the matter and register an FIR after finding out how the number was used to make the extortion call.

He told reporters, "Maurya filed a complaint informing that he received an extortion call from the jailed MLA's number on Saturday. The caller demanded Rs 50,000 from Maurya and told him to keep it at a betel shop in Gopiganj town."

He said, "The Madhya Pradesh police had seized Mishra's pistol, mobile phone and Rs three lakh cash when he was arrested on August 14. At the time of handing over Mishra to the Bhadohi police, the MP cops had also given all the seized articles. It is being checked whether the seized phone had a SIM card and how it is being used now."

The efforts to trace the caller have started, he said.

Mishra had been booked under the Goonda Act on July 18 for issuing threats to a contractor.

On August 8, the MLA's relative Krishna Kant Tiwari had lodged an FIR against him, his wife Ramlali Mishra, who is an MLC and son Vishnu, alleging they forcibly got his property registered in their name.

Mishra was arrested in Madhya Pradesh on August 14.

Ramlali and Vishnu are absconding and an order for attaching their property has been issued by the court.

On September 19, Tiwari's son Surya lodged an FIR against Mishra's daughter Seema, grandson Vikas, Girdhari Pathak and four others for threatening him.

On September 26, one more FIR was lodged against Mishra for misusing the letter pad of Usha Mishra, the village head of Kaulapur village, for recommending CB-CID or another high-level probe in his case.

The Bhadohi administration and police also initiated the process for cancellation of seven arms licenses of Mishra, his wife Ramlali and son Vishnu.

Vijay Mishra was elected as an MLA from the Nishad Party in the 2017 Assembly elections.