Duo posed as Maoist rebels and at Ghatshila
Jamshedpur: Police have arrested two persons while they were trying to extort Rs 20 lakh from the son of a senior JMM leader and former minister Champai Soren by impersonating themselves as CPI-Maoist rebels at Ghatshila.
Those arrested were identified as Laxman Marandi (35) and Chetan Soren (32), both residents of Tirin police station area in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha.
Sub-divisional police officer (Mosabani) Ajit Kumar Vimal presented the miscreants before the media during a press conference at Sakchi.
The officer said that the victim Lakhan Mardi who is a resident of Kasmar village in Dumaria block was receiving call from a cellphone from the past two months for extortion.
The SDPO said the caller who claimed himself CPI-Maoist commandar Deepak Munda had asked Lakhan to fetch him Rs 20 lakh from Babulal Soren, son of senior JMM leader and former minister Champai Soren. The caller was asking Lakhan to bring the ransom from the minister’s son as he ( Lakhan) was close to him and a friend too.
But on Wednesday, the duo asked Lakhan to bring the money as demanded within the next 12 hours, otherwise both he and his friend Babulal Soren will be killed. The two alleged rebels had also stated that if the money is paid then Babulal will get complete support from the rebels during the next assembly elections in Ghatshila sub-division.
The alleged rebel commander had fixed a time between 3 pm to 4 pm on for making the payment of levy at Naga Bridge under Kawalipolice station on Wednesday.
As the police receive the information, the SDPO Mosabani, Ajit set up a team and himself posed as BabulalSoren and met the rebel commander pretending to pay the levy. But a police team in plain cloth had by the time surrounded the accused Laxman Marandi and Chaitan Soren. Soon after the duo were nabbed.
The SDPO said on being interrogated, the arrested persons not only divulged their true identity but also said that this was their first attempt to extort money in the name of naxals in Ghatshila sub-division. The police are probing both to gather more details on their activities.