Two Held for Extortion

ROURKELA:A Bisra-based scribe of a vernacular daily Batakrushna Swain (45) and a lawyer’s son Sachin Halwai (26) were arrested and produced in court on Monday for making extortion calls to a businessman.

Bisra IIC Sushanta Das said the businessman, Surendra Mahato, had secured licence for a stone quarry. The accused duo had threatened Mahato over phone telling him to pay Rs 10 lakh to PLFI members failing which he would not be allowed to operate the stone quarry.

The IIC said verification is underway. Sachin was wanted by police in 2010 for his suspected link with CPI (Maoist) leader Anmol Hembram alias Samarjee, the IIC added.