BHUBANESWAR: The Saheed Nagar police on Tuesday arrested three persons including former state NSUI president and BJP leader Itish Pradhan (36) for allegedly attacking a person and demanding extortion money from him.
Pradhan had joined BJP in January this year. The two other accused are Arpana Mishra (38) from Chakeisiani and Biplab Parida (32) from Hansapal. Police said the accused were arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by Saroj Kumar Mishra, a youtuber. As per the complaint, the trio made a phone call to him on November 9 night by identifying themselves as cops and asked him to report at Saheed Nagar police station in connection with a case registered against him.
As Mishra arrived near the police station, he was allegedly accosted by the three and first attacked with ink. They then reportedly attacked him with a sharp weapon and broken glass bottles.
Police said their investigation revealed that the attack was a fallout of a five-day-old feud in which Mishra had refused to pay extortion money demanded by the accused. “During interrogation, the accused confessed to their crime. Their criminal antecedents were also verified and it was found that five cases each are pending against both Pradhan and Parida,” said the Saheed Nagar Police. They said a case has been registered under relevant sections of BNS and further investigation in the matter is on.