CUTTACK: Three persons including the former Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) corporator Ranjita Biswal were arrested by the CDA Phase-II police on Tuesday on extortion charges. The two others are Ranjit Singh of Chandni Chowk Hasanbag and Suchitra Ranjan Mohapatra alias Cycle Nana of Mansinghpatana.
Police said the three are active associates of gangster brothers Sushant and Sushil Dhalasamant and had been indulging in extorting money from contractors, Balighats and businessmen in the city as per direction of the Dhalasamant brothers who are currently lodged in jail. On Monday evening they had come to the Balighat at Sec-11 to threaten the owner who refused to pay 'dadabati'.
On a tip off, police arrested them from the spot. The accused confessed to have been collecting 'dadabati' on behalf of Dhalasamant brothers and handing over the extortion money to their father. Based on the information, police also seized the extortion money amounting Rs 1 lakh from Dhalasamant brothers' house in CDA Sector-6.
Ranjita was arrested on April 10 last year in connection with her alleged links with the gangsters and two guns were seized from her possession. Prior to this, she was arrested in March 2018 on charges of supplying firearms to contract killers on being instructed by the Dhalasamant brothers.
She was granted conditional bail by the Orissa High Court in July the same year. Ranjita was elected as a corporator in 2015 and dismissed from BJD’s primary membership following her arrest on March 7, 2018.