BHUBANESWAR: Launching an intensified crackdown on extortion activities in the capital city, police on Saturday busted a ring and arrested three persons in the connection.
Addressing media persons, Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Meena said the trio had demanded Rs 50,000 as extortion money from a contractor.
The accused - Balia Rout, Sujana Behera and Dilanj Mohanty - demanded the amount from Deepak Kumar Rout on Friday near an under-construction building in Raghunathpur area. Rout has reportedly taken the contract to construct a doctor’s house.
Meena said the trio was armed with sharp weapons and they thrashed the victim. He sustained head injury in the incident. Police apprehended the three and seized a Mahindra Thar SUV and a sharp weapon from them.
Meena also informed that three persons were arrested on the day for allegedly selling ganja cigarettes in tea and betel shops within Saheed Nagar police limits.
While two - Aman Kumar and Rashmi Ranjan Sahoo, were nabbed from their tea stall near a hotel in the Jaydev Vihar area, a betel shop owner Hrusikesh Panigrahi was apprehended from Biseswar slum. Around 173 ganja cigarettes and 110 gm, ganja were seized from them.
Meena said massive raids continued throughout the day in betel shops and tea stalls, especially near educational institutions, under the jurisdiction of at least 24 police stations in the city to check the sale of gutkha, other tobacco products and ganja cigarettes.