A youth has been picked up for inquiry in connection with extortion letters to businessmen, claiming they meant for the Maoist movement here.
Police said that a businessman and a doctor received letters demanding money from persons claiming to be Maoists. Subsequently, Murugan, a hotel owner of Vedasandur, complained that he too had received an anonymous extortion letter. In the letter, it was stated that around 600 cadre of the Maoist movement had intruded into Tamil Nadu and four of them were hiding in Vedasandur.
The letter demanded that he give Rs 17 lakh to them near the Bhadrakali Amman temple and threatened to attack him with a bomb if he failed to fall in line.
All the three lodged a complaint with Dindigul superintendent of police Jeyachandran. Cops said a few other residents too had received such letters.
Preliminary investigations revealed that some locals had used the Maoist label to send the letters. “We are questioning a youth and verifying his handwriting,” Jeyachandran said.