At least seven MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh have complained of getting extortion messages on their phones, PTI reported on Wednesday. Six of them received messages asking them to deposit Rs 10 lakh in a bank account or members of their families would be killed. They have filed separate cases in the matter, the police said on Wednesday.

The messages, received from the same person, asked the MLAs to pay the money within three days, the police said. The sender was Ali Budesh Bhai from Dubai, Deputy Inspector General (Law and Order) Pravin Kumar said.

Veer Vikram Singh, Prem Narayan Pandey, Vinay Kumar Dwivedi, Vinod Katiyar, Shashank Trivedi and Anita Rajput are the legislators who allegedly received the messages. Another MLA, Rajnikant Mani Tripathi, received five threatening messages from an international number, Lucknow Circle Officer Abhay Mishra said, according to ANI.

“I got WhatsApp messages and calls demanding Rs 10 lakh,” Katiyar told PTI. “The sender said if I did not pay the money my family members will be eliminated.”

The police said they would carry out a detailed investigation but said prima facie it looks like an act of mischief. “The help of Special Task Force is also being taken wherever required and the case will be solved very soon and guilty punished,” Kumar said.

Anand Kumar, the additional director general of police, said it looked like a planned conspiracy to create panic. He said the police were reviewing the security of the MLAs and their relatives.