Jeypore: Sadar police Saturday arrested a lecturer and a bank employee for demanding extortion by impersonating Maoists.
The accused were identified as Santosh Kumar Swain (54), a lecturer of Raniput Engineering College here, and Amir Kumar Behera (30), a messenger of Utkal Gramya Bank (UGB).
According to police, Simanchal Nayak, a managing committee member of the engineering college, had received a phone call from the ‘Maoists’ December 16 last. The callers asked him to pay Rs 10 lakh otherwise he would get capital punishment. Though Nayak ignored the call at that time, he received another call June 20. This time, he lodged a complaint with the police. Based on the complaint, police registered a case and began a probe.
Tracking the call details, police managed to arrest Santosh, a native of Aska, and Amir, a messenger of UGB’s Phampuni branch. They had made the extortion demand by identifying themselves as members of the Malkangiri Maoist division.
Police seized two mobile handsets, two SIM cards and a bike and produced them in a court, said Sadar IIC Kailash Sethi.
PNN