Puri: Five persons involved in the murderous attack on Pradip Kumar Tripathy at Mishra Sahi in Puri March 16 after he refused to pay extortion money were arrested, Friday.
The arrested were identified as Bijaya Kumar Sahu alias Kuna (27), Biranchi Narayan Panigrahi alias Babuna (36), Lokanath Hota alias Loka (28), Rinku Padhi alias Rajendra (32) and Hari Shankar Kanungo alias Nanu (35), a police official informed.
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According to sources, Pradip alias Tima was constructing a house in the locality. Hence, he had been allegedly receiving extortion threats for the last few days from the accused local youths.
Pradip had gone to a temple located nearby his house at around 10.00 am Tuesday. Three of the miscreants namely Loka, Gopal and Biranchi obstructed him and demanded extortion money.
The three warned Pradip that the construction work of his house will be forcibly stopped if he fails to pay the money. They also threatened him of dire consequences.
After Pradip refused to part with his money, they attacked him with a dagger. He sustained multiple injuries on his head, hand, back, leg and other parts of the body, sources added.
PNN
